dan: the cause of my sleepless nights

some may wonder what the heck my title is referring too. but really, do you need to worry that i won't explain?

back in '05 when dan and i began dating, i had many sleepless nights because he was either on my mind or i was with him until the very last possible second until curfew. then, when we got married, adjusting to another living, breathing human being in my bed was yet another cause of near insomnia. now having a baby (which also had very much to do with dan.....i feel i don't need to explain......) has caused me a plethora upon plethora of sleepless nights.......lately nova has been sleeping.....well.....not sleeping......she did so well until christmas time and its all been downhill from there. why? i don't have any idea....but to keep it positive.....we sure do love her and its a good thing she's a super-nova-babe, or we just might sell her to the circus!

nova looking cute for church....i LOVE this headband heather.....i got SO many compliments on it.....she finally will leave it in!














nova just being nova-licious.....and check out the no-hawk....that's right....its not a mohawk, but a no-hawk...















also here are some cute clips of nova dancing.....she is hilarious. she has this toy that she got from grandma hope and she LOVES it......and i always dance when its on and now she does it...........who knew you could get such sweet dance moves from your own mother!?!?!

lookin bigger

not much has happened the last 2 days. we did however celebrate national popcorn day a day late. but no pictures.....oh well. i did find some sweet plastic popcorn boxes at the dollar store so dan and i drank out of them for dinner and then later ate out of them.....so to keep in my parents will, here are some pics of nova that i took just today.

lookin pretty big......














and it looks like she knows it. what a cheeser!

photo shoot

here is a photo shoot and a brief commentary of the shots:

not looking......



















kinda blurry......



















bingo! holy cow, i have a cute kid. enough said.

national popcorn day!

happy national popcorn day! nova got her 6 month immunizations today and is less than herself today, so i don't know if i have the energy and the time to go all out today and celebrate,....but for sure tomorrow! and you all should too!

here are some ideas that i personally think are hilarious......not that anybody cares, BUT if you need a date night or something fun to do....here you go.....plus, i don't have anyone to talk to right now, so at least i can get out my ideas right?

so you can do the following:
*eat popcorn and watch a movie. (but come on....do a little more!)
*have a 'catch the popcorn in your mouth contest' and see who can catch the most in a row.....or something.
*have a popcorn throwing contest.
*make white chocolate covered popcorn---here is my awesome sister heathers recipe:
1 bag microwaved popcorn
3 cubes of white almond bark
---pop popcorn, let cool and get out all kernels
---melt chocolate, poor over popcorn, stir to coat and dump on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and let cool and harden. you can also poor m&m's in while stirring in chocolate.....DIVINE!!!
*eat corn and drink pop for dinner with popcorn chicken......
*make popcorn and take it to neighbors and sing the song 'popcorn popping on the apricot tree' as if you are caroling.......you might want to go to people who would find this at least slightly funny.

hmmmmMMmmmMMmm......and i think thats all i came up with while rocking nova. so there you have it---fun night....not a lot of effort. OR.....if you want to have friends over, fill a jar of kernels or pieces of popcorn and have them guess how many are in the jar....winner gets a can of corn! or something......WHY am i even blogging about this.....honestly, i am just procrastinating things i SHOULD be doing.....but none-the-less, national popcorn day ONLY comes once a year.....so celebrate good times! COME ON!

also, i want to brag on dan a little.....he is so awesome. the last 2 nights he dressed up as a soldier/army dude and delivered invitations for new beginnings for the young women in our ward. 22 houses he visited ladies and gentleman.....in the dark and cold......what a trooper. he looked awesome and scared the crap out of some of the girls. it was hilariously awesome! i love him for doing crazy things for me! here is what he looked like! thanks again dan....i owe you big!

dirty litttle trap snappers

as mentioned in my last blog we have a little bit of a vermin problem....we have rodents on a rampage, that are messing with our food storage and i am thoroughly grossed out. i detest EVERYTHING about mice. they are small and have beady eyes, they carry disgusting diseases. they chew holes in things and reproduce by the jillions. AND they are in our house....well at least part of it....they are only in our pantry, which i REFUSE to go in now. dan thinks i am ridiculous, i think i am wise.

ANYWAY, we bought some traps, decon, and set 4 traps yesterday. all night long i swear i could hear traps snapping. needless to say we have caught 2 in less than 24 hours. dan was disgusting as he was carrying them out trying to explain how they really are beautiful creatures.......yeah right. well i have been thinking about the whole mice problem today....its a little hard to get it off my mind.....and and i have decided that i will no longer call them mice, but trap snappers and i will TRY to not be such a hater BECAUSE i know that Heavenly Father created all things and he took the time to create 'the trap snappers.' but its gonna be hard.......you see my detest for the trap snappers goes back to a young age of i don't even know....but its irrelevant........my siblings and i were getting ready to go outside and play in the snow. so being the obedient daughter that i am, i put on snow boots as requested by my mother. well there was something in the bottom of the boot and i thought it to be a sock from the last person who wore them.......so i put my hand DOWN the boot and shook it......nope, not a sock but a trap snapper....scarred. for a lifetime. no doubt about it.

SO....we'll see how i do. PLUS now that i have children of my own, i don't want to push the fear onto them........even though i feel the fear to be extremely logical. but whatever.
here are some pics of happy things that have nothing to do with the dirty little trap snappers.....i mean....a wonderful creature that was created that i wish was not in my house right now.

here are some pics of some reindeer cupcakes i made for the young women in our ward for christmas. they were super fun to make.














here is nova on her 6 month b-day......in a super CUTE orange sweatsuit that is WAY to big for her.......


























and here is a cute one of nova getting ready to eat some tasty rice cereal and applesauce mixture.














and here is dan reading to nova before her bath. the book is one that he gave her for christmas

snippets and comments from the holiday season...and beyond

ok.....its been ages since i posted. and a jillion things have happened. so i will merely write boring snippets of what has occurred since our totally awesome christmas video! hahaha....i still laugh when i think about it......

first off....nova is 6 months TODAY!!! CRAZY!!!! she is doing SO good. eating solids, rolling over, almost sitting up, babbling and grasping really well. she is such a ham and loves attention and singing, and gives great hugs and really slobbery kisses. the last 6 months have been the hardest and the best for dan and i. she is so worth every bit of it. i have never been as sleep deprived, stressed, worried or happy in my life. dan and nova make me so happy and keep me really busy. it makes so much sense that family is the center of our church. i am glad i know that we can be together forever.

now to back up a bit, christmas was fabulous. we had a great time at the hopes, nova didn't have a clue what was going on christmas morning, but still enjoyed herself and got some cute clothes and fun books and toys. new years eve, nova was sick and dan and i just stayed home...we really are old farts...we went to bed BEFORE midnight...LAME-O...but nova refused to be an old fart and woke us up right before midnight......apparently she wanted to see the new year in, but she must have been disappointed because she feel asleep shortly after.........

we took nova to primary children's hospital last monday and she is doing eXceLLent! we don't have to stick her heel and get blood EVERY week, we can now go every other which is WONDERFUL!!!! AND we don't have to go back until JUNE!!!! sweet nectar of nectars!

my mom has come down to visit, while dan went out of town for a business trip and it was SO nice to have some company. dan has worked a ton the last few months and having some estrogen in the house was nice.

in totally disgusting news, we have a mouse in our storage room which is right off of our room.......VOMIT! we are in the process of trying to fix the problem....do they make mouse bombs? i was thinking that would be a great invention. set it off and all little disease ridden vermon would be extinguished within a 50 mile radius.....or something.....i don't want them to die necessarily, i just don't want to be near them.....especially near where i sleep and keep my food.........again.....VOMIT! sigh....i digress....

this pic is of nova last week....so ALMOST 6 months.....














dan completed a project he has been working on since OCTOBER......again....sweet nectar of nectars. yes it is a bridge completely made out of toothpicks....minus the strings of course.....gotta love that boy!



















also, he didn't shave the entire month of december.....which was apparent in the christmas video in our last post, and here are some pics as he slowly shaved it off at his parents house......i am simply glad he is well groomed MOST of the time and that he DOES NOT have a mustache......it doesn't suit him, and i don't like it!




























later today i will post some videos and pics of nova on her 6 month birthday! i know.....you are all excited! :)