Liam WALKS!!! He has been toying around with the walking thing all during the month of June and actually took a few steps on June 30th (my little sister, Christina's birthday). But today he actually did 5 to 10 steps all on his own! It's a break through!!!

Check it out:

I have started to practice singing opera again. I have been working on my own and contacting teachers in the area within the last few weeks and found a few teachers that I went to have lessons with this past week. My biggest fear in returning to the opera world of practice and performing was to not be taken seriously. I have been so afraid that every teacher I met with would see me as I feel - a tired, run down mommy without an "edge".

So, as I prepared for my lesson on Tuesday, I was determined to do everything within my power to look, sound and be professional. I got a friend of mine to watch the boys and the morning of the day of the lesson, I was ready! The lesson wasn't until 3 pm, but I needed to drop off the boys at 2 pm, which meant I had to leave the house at 1:45 pm, which meant I had to start getting ready to get in the car at 1:15 pm, which meant I had to feed the boys lunch by 12:30 pm, so I could warm-up right before we left. Phew!

I ofcourse had tried on every piece of "business casual" clothing I owned (not many) the night before. What "business casual" means, I'll never know exactly, but I was pretty proud of myself for being able to finally fit into my size 8 slacks that I hadn't worn in about 4 years! I used to wear slacks to work when I worked at BYU as a secretary and was feeling super snazzy in my white, cropped slacks, brown wedges and green shirt.

It was 1:40 pm. I was dressed and feeling good. I was a little frazzled because I has T-minus 5 minutes to get in the car. All the bags were packed and already in the car. The boys were dressed, fed and wiped down with wet wipes. I was checking on the directions on Google Maps as Liam started crying at my feet (ready for his afternoon nap) and Noah was literally jumping like a flea at my side asking when we were going to go. I stood up, bent over to grab Liam and ripped the crotch out of my snazzy white cropped pants ... and when I say "ripped the crotch out" you might think I meant the seam .... oh no no no ... I mean I ripped the fabric apart. So much for "finally" fitting into those size 8's ... and so much for being prepared.

I stood there with my bum hanging out of my pants, Liam screaming in my arms, Noah hopping around me like a flea and a sippy cup in one hand dripping down my shirt and I suddenly felt very UN-professional.

However, I did NOT have time for this. I put Liam down (poor kid was still wailing) and flew into my room, switched my outfit to the other business clothes (thank heavens for trying clothes on the night before), crammed the sippy cup in my purse and headed out the door to put the boys in their seats.

After I dropped the boys off and as I was trying to do breathing exercises in the car on the way to the lesson, I noticed that my fingers smelled slightly of pickles ... that's one of the things I had fed the boys for lunch .... oh well.

So my little sister Mina sent this link to my sisters and me. It was a link to this cool design blog - specifically an entry focused on decorating in a white country style. As I scrolled through the pictures I found myself inspired to re-do my entire house in white and declutter EVERYTHING! I got more and more enthused about the simple design that I HAD to share it with Daniel.

So, when Daniel got home from work, I excitedly grabbed the laptop and jumped in bed next to him so I could show him the blog and all the white pictures!!! We had such different responses to the images, I just had to write down the comments we shared:

We saw this image:



... and I said, "Isn't that romantic and so clean looking!?"

Daniel said, "You know that movie 'Pure Luck'? Remember how in the end they were in a 3rd world country's hospital room? That's what this looks like to me ... an old run-down hospital room".

Then I showed him this picture:



I said, "This is what I envisioned in our room, the clean white with hints of green!"

Daniel said, "That looks like a barn. You want to live in a barn?! I would get splinters in my feet walking across an old floor like that. Please, do NOT redo our house tomorrow to look like this".

Then this image:



I said, "Look at that, son't you love it? The large mirror against the wall? I love that".

Daniel responded, "That mirror looks like it's been through a war. No, I do not like it".

I was laughing so hard by the end of the string of pictures and Daniel's commentary, that I had to write it down. I can never predict what he's going to say or think about things - and I love that about him!

"Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance." - Dave Barry

Noah Dancing ... Short version:



Noah Dancing ... Long version:

What have we been doing this summer you ask? Well, check it out ...






















Sidewalk chalk ... our sidewalks have been covered ever since Noah figured out what sidewlak chalk was. You know it's summer when your sidewalks are covered in chalk.

I think it is hilarious that Daniel was so proud of the way the boys looked fter he dressed them for church a few weeks ago, that he took pictures. And not just a snapshot or two. He took 5. I love it. I am usually pretty busy on Sundays leading choir practice before church and doing Primary singing time for the 2nd and 3rd hours of church, I hardly see my family from about 12 pm to 5 pm. I love that Daniel is such a support to me and he takes care of the boys - getting them washed and dressed for church, bringing the boys in a seperate car after me, watching Liam in the hallways of church while I teach in Primary ... what a good partner. I love my Daniel and my boys. Here are Daniel's snapshots:






These two little imps are so much like Daniel and I. Noah is a lot like me and Liam is almost an exact replica of Daniel. This picture seems to show that.

For Father's Day, I thought I'd give him what he most desires in life ... sleep. So, he got to sleep in until about 9:30 am, then got breakfast in bed and his present.

We gave him a nail and screw organizer for the garage. It was basically a bunch of tiny drawers and Noah and Liam liked it just as much, if not more, than Daniel did. As soon as they could get their hands on it, Noah stuffed every drawer with toys and Liam spent the day trying to get close enough to the drawers to pull stuff out of them. Noah was on close watch over the drawers.

Then Liam went down for his morning nap and Daniel and I fell back asleep. We really don't know what Noah did for that hour ... nothing was destroyed when we woke up, so we didn't ask.

Then there was church. Noah had made a tie for Daniel to wear that day at church. It was a purple tie with foam trucks, trains and boats on it. Supposedly all the Primary kids were going to make their dads wear the silly ties they made for them. However, Daniel was only one of the three dads in the ward who donned the foam covered ties. It was awesome.

After dinner when we got home, we made a special banana dessert for Daniel (I do not really like bananas that much, something about the texture ... and taste, so I hardly ever make anything banana-y, besides an occasional banana bread loaf). Check out the pictures.

We are so lucky to have Daniel as the Daddy in our family. He is the most patient, loving Daddy we could ask for.


Noah showing the toys he stuffed in the drawers.


The boys playing with Daniel's Father's Day gift.


My favorite part of this picture is how Liam's toes look like berries on his fat foot AND how his concentrating cheek looks like a water balloon. He is kind of like a bunch of water balloons stacked together.


Daniel wearing the tie Noah made for him.


Loves


Ta da! The banana (blech) dessert.