Safety in Numbers

We put 3 binkies in Teagan's bed when he goes to sleep so that when he wakes up throughout the night he can always find one. By the morning they all end up on the floor around his crib. After he had his bottle today I set him down in his room and went to clean the bottle. He came walking out of his room with all 3! I guess you could say he likes his binkies!

Gettin in trouble

We tried to babyproof our kitchen with the cupboard latches, but the ones we got didn't work with our cupboards an so Teagan currently enjoys the luxory of opening and emptying my drawers and cupboards. Luckily his favorite drawer is my overmit drawer so that is pretty easy to clean up.Teagan can be across the apartment and if I open the dishwasher he hears the click and comes runnin'. He runs into the kitchen with a huge goofy smile and tries to get to the dishwasher before I close it. I accidentally left it open yesterday and this is how I found him. He is so funny!
Do you like the color scheme for my bedroom? I wish I had this one on video. We keep our cell phone chargers back where Teagan is sitting and he is not allowed to suck on them, obviously. I moved the chair so he couldn't get back there, but nothing can stop this kid. I walked in on him throwing himself against the chair and doing a sort of flip/somersault over the edge into the corner where he is sitting. I should have stopped him, but it was too funny and I had to watch.
He loves it when we put our couch pillows on the floor and he can run and jump onto them. Whoever says he is still a baby is crazy, this kid is going at full speed all the time! It is so fun to have a little guy with all that energy, until I completely worn out. Luckily he plays so hard that he naps about 4 hours a day and sleeps 11 hours at night.

We went to the beach with some friends on Saturday and while Zac was out learning how to surf (what a stud!) Teagan was rolling around in the sand, trying to run/walk down sandy hills and doing lots of screaching with the birds. We had a lot of fun, even though it isn't really beach weather anymore with our friends. Me and Bethany went on a walk on the pathway that follows the beach and it was so fun! I love walks on the beach and I love watching Zac play in the water. Life is good, Zac is good, Teagan is crazy!

Update on Bike Trailor

So, as we all know I bought the bike trailor as a surprise for me without consulting Zac first. I really don't do that usually. So I convinced him that it was a great idea and that it was going to be a way for me and Teagan to have cheap fun while I get in shape. So now I have to ride it around all the time to show him how much I'm using it.

I forgot to check out the roads around our house first!!! HOLY COW! It doesn't matter which direction I leave in I have to go up and down hill after hill. I had no idea we lived in such a "hilly" area, but we do and my legs and hind end are feelin it! I am so sore! Today we rode to the park and then to Vons and my legs feel like complete jello. I can't stop now though, cause I'm still trying to show Zac how much I love riding it, but packin a 20 lb kid around is TIRING!

It's like that Friends episode where Monica buys the SUPER expensive boots against Chandler's will and she finds out they're WAY uncomfortable and gets blisters, but she still has to wear them to show Chandler that she was right...I'M MONICA!!!

Budgeting for Christmas.

So I've been doing a lot of research on inexpensive Christmas gifts and I found a GREAT one! Everyone always loves getting slippers for Christmas, so I found instructions for making your own. I was so excited because I already have all the supplies that I need to make them, leftovers from when Teagan was born. Here are the instructions for anyone else who is in need of a cheap Christmas present idea.

How to make bedroom slippers out of maxi pads:

You need four maxi pads to make a pair.

Two of them get laid out flat, for the foot part.

The other two wrap around the toe area to form the top.

Tape or glue each side of the top pieces to the bottom of the foot part.
Decorate the tops with whatever you desire, silk flowers (this is most Aesthetically appealing), etc.

These slippers are:

* Soft and Hygienic

* Non-slip grip strips on the soles
* Built in deodorant feature keeps feet smelling fresh

* No more bending over to mop up spills

* Disposable and biodegradable * Environmentally safe

* Three convenient sizes: (1.) Regular, (2.) Light and (3.) Get out the Sand Bags.

I've attached a photo of the first pair I made so that you can see the Nifty slippers for yourself....
Awaiting your response. It's crucial that I get the right size for each One of you.

Cute Cute Cute

So I totally splurged, and I got a lecture because of it, but it was totally worth it!!! I've been eyeing bike trailors since Teagan was born and I have wanted one badly. When I found out that they were about $200 new I started looking on Craig's list. All of those ones were usually really NASTY or still out of our price range. Yesterday I found one that was priced at $40. It was in great shape, but pretty dirty so I offered $30 and she sold it to me! YEAH! We have a rule about buying ourselves presents near christmas, but I kind of forgot and got caught up in the moment, I told Zac that it can count as my Christmas present!

I spent the afternoon scrubbing it out and trying to polish it up and today we had great adventures!

Can I just say that we have awesome neighbors? The little girl with Teagan is Kylie, I think she is 15 months or so and she is so cute with Teagan! They had a blast riding in the trailor together and they were so nice to each other. Kylie kept telling Teagan Hi! over and over, so cute! Her mom is Megan and I love having her live close by so we can hang out all the time!

The neighbors right across the way are awesome too! There are 3 kids, 16 (Mariella), 14(alexis), and 11 (Yesenia) and the 16 and 11 year old girls watch Teagan for me almost every day, the 14 year old boy helped me fix my bike so I could ride it around last night. Their parents make us YUMMY Mexican food and give us free treats from Albertson's bakery (the dad is the manager). We are so lucky to live in such a great community. Friendly neighbors are the greatest!

Quiet times

Ever since Teagan started walking we have discovered that as long as he can wander around he is exremely happy and well behaved (if he is in a child proof environment of course). Now we are facing the time when we have to decide what to do with him during church. On Sunday I took him out because he was being wild during sacrament meeting. While we were out we were joined by at least 5 other parents taking out their kids. Teagan was the youngest and the oldest was 3. They all ran around and played and had a blast and then it hit me....I FELL INTO THE TRAP.

Zac and I always told ourselves we wouldn't be the parents that let their kids run free when they were being bad in church ( now I COMPLETLY understand why they do!!!). Then our kids would learn that if they are bad in sacrament meeting we'll take them out and they can run through the halls. We would be teaching them that it is okay to behave badly.

I believe that my brother Brian used a method with his kids that worked fairly well. While in Sacrament meeting they could color, play with toys, and walk around within their own pew. If and when they misbehaved he'd take them out and slice off a finger. They seem to do pretty well now. hehe jk No, he would hold them on his lap and not let them go, even if they were screaming (in a classroom or something). Eventually they must learn that it is better to be in the meeting than alone with dad.

I want to implement something like this eventually to teach Teagan that he simply must behave in church, but I'm not sure if he is old enough.

What have you tried, oh ye wise ones? When did you start teaching your kids that they have to be quiet in church? If you are the family with all the children quietly sitting in a row coloring or even listening PLEASE share your wisdom. I know Teagan is a baby and babys are babys, but I want to teach him to be well behaved. Now is your time to brag about your excellent parenting skills. :)

The Book

The Art Show

Well, I arrived home safely and now it's the post we've all been waiting for...or at least I have been waiting for.

The art show was great. There were a few different artists, but my mom had the front little area. She didn't bring everything that she does, she just chose the best ones. This is her and Judy (the gal in charge).

Elephant Therapy is a group of collages that she made that are awesome. She made a postcard and after having thousands printed off realized that there was a small gramatical error on the back so she cut them up and made them into a bunch of collages. Here are the ones she took to the show.The stuffed animals are great! Each one is completely unique and they are hilarious! She uses the coolest fabrics, buttons, and other artsy stuff to make animals with a ton of character. She made the displays and everything inside of them (Well the tree she cut down from her yard, but you get the point). One of the stuffed animals sold opening night, yay mom!My favorite is the 12 Days of Christmas set of postcards. She painted all twelve days into one painting, but the whole painting was then cut into twelve sections, each representing one day, that could be sent as postcards. The idea is to send one postcard a day for the twelve days leading up to Christmas day. As the person receives the cards they can put them together like a puzzle. I think it is SO original and who wouldn't want to receive mail 12 days in a row???Kirby Heyborne was there performing throughout the better part of the show and it was great. There is something about fabulous music that makes looking at art even better. Most of you probably know Kirby as a cheesy Mormon actor, but he actually is an extremely talented musician and has a few CD's out. I LOVE his music, it is really soothing and he has a great voice. If you go to his website you can listen to his music. Whitney took a video of him at the show, but I think she kept making faces at him to make him laugh...hehe
http://www.kirbyheyborne.com/

So the room that connected my mom's area with the rest of the artists was W-I-L-D! The whole room was painted with bright stripes. Thanks go out to Whitney for getting the rest of us to take our group picture, me and whitney don't look alike do we?

In the Rainbow Room they served wine and cheese and grapes and Teagan figured it out quick! He had many many blocks of cheese on sticks. If there are two things Teagan loves they are cheese and Grandma Packer. It was a very fun evening and I loved being able to see my mom get the credit she deserves for being a wonderful artist! Go Mom!

I'm Fired in!

So back in Idaho there were always opportunities for getting snowed in, I thought I wouldn't have to worry about that in California, but that ole' Santa Ana wind has done it again. The only way for me to get home to Zac will take an extra 2 hours, assuming there is no traffic. I can't handle four hours alone in a car with Teagan so I'm just staying until a route opens up...it is not looking good so far!
It's a shame I don't have my camera cord because I have so many pictures to post! Be looking forward to posts about:
--My mom's awesome art show
--Teagan's finished book!

Funny Teagan

He doesn't really like to ride his car around or hold on to it...it's more like a game of fetch. Whatever keeps him entertained works for me.

I couldn't help myself on this one. Last night vs. Teagan's first bath...I can't believe my baby's almost 1!

Shout out to my mom.

So my mom is an amazing artist and she is so creative and is talented in SO many different areas. She teaches graphic design at FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise) in downtown LA and is simply remarkable.

I think there is a TV show where the girls go to FIDM...yep, it's the same one.

Well, they have asked her to do an art show in their gallery starting next week and going through Thanksgiving and I'm so excited to see what she puts together! I will post lots of pictures. Here is the flyer she made for the event:

One of her pieces "Merry White Tree in the Night" inspired a song that Kirby Heyborne ("The RM", "Singles Ward") wrote and so she designed his CD. (they happen to be neighbors). On opening night he'll be performing at the gallery while we get to look around and my mom's creative/funky/amazing artwork.

If you are reading this and you know my mom or Kirby or you like funky artwork and want to have a night out on the town you should totally go!

Here is her website if you want to see more of what she does (she is currently designing a new one which I've had a sneak peak of and it is so cool!):
http://dianepacker.com

"Oh, how those words have tortured me..."

Can you name that movie?

If you guessed Pride and Prejudice you are correct! I was introduced to that wonderful book in High School---thank you Christine, and then I became a huge Jane Austen addict while living next door to my Grandma Packer. She has all the books and all the movies with all the different versions for every Jane Austen story. When I was first nursing and it was taking FOREVER to feed TEagan I went through ALL of them, and now I'm hooked! The 6 hour Pride and Prejudice is addicting! I got to go pay a visit this week to my mom and we watched it while working on our projects. It was so fun and I love the last half hour. I could watch it over and over

"...If you had acted in a more gentlemanly-like manner.......Oh, how those words have tortured me..." Good ole' Darcy, can't get enough of him!

I realized that I had to go to Valencia to vote since that is where I'm registered so me and Teag made the 2 1/2 hour trip. I got to work on Teagan's Christmas present some more which was really stressful and a little fun.

I am by no means a seamstress, so I have to redo so much, mostly I just leave it as is cause I hate ripping out seams! The book is imperfect, but I'm learning lots from it! I'm learning about different types of fabric, stitches, and finding ways to make things hold REALLY well. Here are the newly added pages.

This is a string where you can move the buttons back and forth. I did it by 10's so that I can teach him to count by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, and 10's. Until he cares he can just make them jingle.

This was inspired by Deagan. The tongue and arms aren't attached and the eyes are buttons. This took about 2 hours because the fabric is ridged and the sewing machine just couldn't work. I was SO angry by the time this page was done!

This page is a peek-a-boo page. Different shapes with different items hidden beneath...pretty simple, but very time consuming!

After a couple harder pages I did this one as a break. I just sewed on a pocket from an old pair of jeans and took a little man my mom had made and attached it with a ribbon. It was easy until I realized I had sewed another piece of fabric onto the back...blast! More seam ripping...

I just took a bunch of types of buckles from my mom's buckle box and sewed them on. The orange and green ones are leather and really fun textures...sewing machines do not like leather :)

This is my favorite page!!! The fabric was already checkered and my mom taught me how to sew on a button with the machine! Talk about amazing! I loved going through her many stashes of buttons finding the coolest ones! Some of them have really cool details that you can't see through the picture.

I created this for the ride home so that when Teag through his toys he could retrieve them himself. he loved the fact that his binkie was on a string!

Well, I keep thinking...what have I gotten myself into with this project, but I'm really glad I'm doing it for a few reasons.

1. Everything is free via my mom! Thanks mom for letting me go through all of your "stuff"

2. I'm learning so much about sewing and the idea that slow and steady is much better!

3. This book will be fun for me to play with during church! Teagan might like it too!

Teagan the cutie

Okay, Teagan is a crack up. This kid makes me laugh so hard and then he makes me want to rip my hair out, but I still love him, nonetheless.

He isn't into getting his picture taken much anymore. He's good for about one smile then he starts to bawl cause he wants the camera...I've never given in...WHY WON'T HE LEARN that he just can't have it??? I just had to include a picture of what he looks like after I try to get him to pose for a cute picture. :)

Our good friends moved :( last weekend which is SO sad. I don't know who I can hang out with anymore and we were having so much fun! Anywho, we inherited one of their boxes and Teagan has loved playing in it ever since. Silly kid.

Zac makes Teagan so happy. In the tub the other night Teagan was seriously giddy and didn't stop laughing for like 10 min. We put the tail end of it on video...this kid is funny!

The support for Proposition 8 is overwhelming.

The past few weeks have been amazing. As a community we have really come together in support of Proposition 8. For those of you who live outside of California: If you vote yes you are agreeing that marriage is between a man and a woman only.

This is a really controversial issue and I know that there are many people who probably read this blog who disagree with my opinion, but that's why it's my opinion. I hope we can still be friends. :)

Here are some pictures of a rally we went to Saturday. There were hundreds of supporters of Prop 8 lining the roads and waving signs. There were so many horns honking constantly and the crowd was cheering. We all got the motivation to continue making phone calls and passing out door hangers!

We had a little get together after all the prop 8 events saturday and I made another cake!

The past few weeks have been amazing. As a community we have really come together in support of Proposition 8. For those of you who live outside of California: If you vote yes you are agreeing that marriage is between a man and a woman only.

This is a really controversial issue and I know that there are many people who probably read this blog who disagree with my opinion, but that's why it's my opinion. I hope we can still be friends. :)

As a family we have grown so much closer in the last couple of weeks. We have spent hours holding signs on corners, passing out door hangers, and making phone calls trying to encourage others to vote yes as well. As we've worked for a cause we believe in our testimonies have grown and I feel the spirit filling a little emptiness I've been having for the last few months. I feel that I'm finally back doing what's right and fighting for my beliefs. I encourage everyone who reads this to anxiously engage themselves in something they believe and know is right. I have never felt better and happier.

As I went to various activities in support of prop 8 I really had to ask myself, why am I voting for prop 8 to pass, what does it mean to me? It means everything to me. My family is the most important thing to me in the world. I agree with the Leaders of my church completely when they say "There is nothing in this world as important as the creation and perfection of family units." Our families make up society and are vital to the function of society. Without strong families I believe with all of my heart that society as a whole will suffer and fail.

Strong families are formed when a man and woman are married and together create children and raise them with strong core values that will teach them to treat others with kindness. In a family children learn how to take care of their earthly body and make good decisions. As these children are raised they become the leaders of our country. I know that the best place to learn these things is in a home where there are both a mother and father to be examples.

Society is already suffering from "failure in the home." Both heterosexual and homosexual parents are failing to teach their children correct principles to guide their life and I can see the results around me every single day. The world seems to become more "wicked" every day and it feels there is no way to stop it. The media alone is almost embarrassing to watch and listen to. I feel I can hardly leave my house without being exposed to things that I couldn't disagree with more. We went to go check out a movie from Hollywood and I was shocked to see how many movies had horrible titles! The titles alone made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

I guess that is what I get for being ultra-conservative.

Back to my point. I don't like living in a world where it is now normal to dress like a prostitute. I don't like living in a world where it is normal to swear and be drunk and scream and yell. I don't like living in a world where it is normal to have sex with people you hardly know. And I don't like living in a world where it is normal for men to marry men and women to marry women. I don't like these things, and I know that they aren't right, because I was raised by amazing parents who taught me right from wrong and I have prayed and I know that those things do not promote kindness, charity, love, or happiness in the long run.

I do not want my little Teagan growing up thinking those things are okay. It won't be easy for my son to come home from kindergarten and say "why didn't you want to marry a girl instead of a boy," or "what's sex," I'd rather try to make the world a place where those things don't come up for kindergartners. I don't want those things to be "normal" and I will do everything I can to protect my children from being exposed to things that we feel are wrong.

You may think that I'm not being tolerant, and you're right. I don't have to tolerate actions that will directly effect the happiness of my own family. I will always try to be kind to everyone. I know that there are wonderful people who don't make the greatest decisions and I 'm friends with lots of them. But I can hate the sin all I want, and put my heart into making sure that sin doesn't become the "norm." The bottom line is, my family is more important to me then anything.

If I could vote to change every one of the things I talked about, I would. Maybe I'll start writing propositions and try to make the world a better place.

Guess what works better than hairspray?

So we weren't going to dress up for Halloween cause Teagan isn't quite old enough to enjoy trick-or-treating, but when Zac said some friends from school were having a party I got way excited to get dressed up!

Teagan got dressed up as the smoldering vampire once again, and it was better this time since his fangs are growing in.

Zac went as a Goucho, Brazilian Cowboy, who was wearing the coolest boots, but I don't have a picture with the boots...so sad! He also was smoldering.

I decided that I wanted to do something fun with my hair as part of the costume so I debated between a future girl with spikey hair or Cindy-Lou-Who from the grinch. I went with Cindy and let me tell ya, she is definately wearing a wig cause there is no way her hair can have that long of braids and be that short on top. I did the best I could with my length of hair and I was pretty pround of the outcome!

About the hairspray---I used egg whites for the ringlets instead of hairspray and apparently it works really well! The only problem was trying to wash it out this morning. My hair turned into a giant rat's nest and the tips of my hair are way damaged! I use egg whites whenever I do my hair curly and it works really well and washes out fine, but I think it was egg whites in combination with a curling iron that were the issue!