two down...

I am designing a photo book for each year that Travis and I have been married. So far I am done with 2004 (the year we were married) and 2005. (Yes, I still have 06, 07, 08, and now 09 to be working on, but sometimes I struggle most with just getting started—so, in my opinion, I am over the biggest hurdle already!) I sometimes forget how much I like designing when there is no client involved. Don't get me wrong, I love designing for others, but this way I can do whatever I want, even if it is not perfect design! I don't have to please anyone but me (oh, yeah, and Travis :)

Here are the covers for the first two books. 2004 is designed to look like our wedding announcements (pretty simple), and 2005 is just because that is what I felt like designing that day!

catch up

Hopefully after reading this post there will be increased understanding and forgiveness for my terrible blogging habits (or lack thereof). Let me just play a little bit of catch up for you on Anna's exciting life. (Keep in mind that Anna just turned seven months on March 4th.)

NEW SKILLS SINCE MARCH 4th:

• Sitting up by herself

• Crawling (3-9-09-ish)

• Pulling self up on things (3-16-09)

• Clapping—she claps after she does ANYTHING! (3-16-09-ish)

• Started "kissing" (Mid-March)

• Cruising—walks around while holding onto stuff (3-17-09)

• And this weekend she pulled herself up to standing, and then let go, and held it for about three seconds!

Slow down, girl! I don't have time to adjust to one thing before she is a pro at the next! I am really needing to watch her close! She is so curious about everything! She watches everything around her like a hawk. She is pretty tricky, too. She all of a sudden started loving her binki (she despised it for the first six months of life), but most of the time she puts it in up-side-down. She doesn't seem to mind though. She also started doing these weird headstand things. I will try to post a video of it later.

I'd like to say that I am going to be better about blogging, but tomorrow she will probably start walking and be running around by Friday. :) Crazy girl! Things seem to change so fast that everyday I am re-figuring out how to fit it all in. Thanks for being patient! Enjoy the pics!

bitter sweet

We are in the final stages of building our new house. We closed on the sale of our current home this last week. It is a bitter sweet string of events. We are so excited as our new house nears completion, but I can't help but feeling so sad when I think of leaving our ward and our neighbors. We have loved our ward and feel very blessed to have met and made friends with such wonderful people around us. Hopefully, we will be just as lucky in this new chapter of our life.

Here are some photos of how our house has progressed over the last few months.

march madness

Ok. So this post has nothing to do with basketball—at all. But it describes my life very well right now. We are closing on the sale of our house tomorrow, and our new house we are building is scheduled to be finished on April 1st. We have been working with the designers, trying to keep up on household chores, chasing around a CRAWLING and curious six month old (more on that later), trying to keep up with Elder's Quorum, Young Women and a slew of baby showers, and trying to get things organized for the move. Yep—March Madness at it's finest.

But, even with the madness, I had to take time out to document Anna turning six months old last month. I just got these pictures back today, and I must say...I LOVE them! They seem to capture every aspect of Anna's budding personality. (I just go to the Picture Me! Portrait Studio at Wal-Mart in Centerville. A girl named Catherine takes them, and she does an AMAZING job with kids! She is seriously awesome! I highly recommend her to anyone. Look online for great deals too!)

For Family: If you would like copies of any of the pictures or collages below, let me know in the next 48 hours so I can order them for you.

i just don't know...

I have been thinking for two days now about how to comment and explain these pictures. And after two days, I still just don't know what to say...or know what she was doing. I guess I will just have to let the pictures speak for themselves. (They have a lot to say!) The only introduction I will give is, this is what Travis saw when he walked into Anna's room yesterday morning.

peas & push ups

roller derby queen

Anna is a total "roller derby queen" and has been rolling ALL over the place. I am beginning to think that she will never learn to crawl or walk—she will just roll everywhere she wants to go—forever. The other day, however, she found out that being a roller derby queen isn't all "glitz and glamour" on the derby circuit. ;) She was taken down hard core—by the corner of the wall. Here she is sporting the battle wound.