Wednesday, February 24, 2010

We don't really like odd numbers!

Well Chris and I have been talking lately and we decided that we really don't love odd numbers...so we decided to make it even. We are so excited to announce that a new little Knudsen will be joining our family around October 12th! We had been trying for a couple of months and to our surprise on the 29th of January we found out that we are expecting!!! I went to the Dr. today and am measuring right on track, I counted the weeks wrong I thought I was 8 but really I am only 7 weeks along (what can I say I'm pretty excited!) I go in tomorrow to do a transvaginal ultrasound, to hear the heart beat and get a better measurement of everything. We are so excited for Lydia to be a big sister and to have a new little one running around. We feel so blessed and even though I don't love getting fat, I love the final outcome! So if you notice a little extra junk in my trunk don't be afraid to ask now...how far along are you (ha ha ha!)







Monday, February 22, 2010

22 months...where does the time go?

22 months going on 22 years!

Well I know I say this every time I talk about Lydia but honestly...where does the time go? I can hardly believe that my once little munchkin is now a little toddler with such a strong little personality and who is learning and growing leaps and bounds every day. Anyways I haven't posted about Lydia and how much she is changing in a while so here goes!

1.Motor Mouth: Talks, talks, talks...it is so fun to be able to have actual conversations with her now. Some of them only I would understand but still it is amazing to me how much she can communicate now. My favorite it when I get mad about something (usually in the car at bad driver's, I have a slight road rage problem) everytime I get done she sweetly says "What happened mom?" Then when I explain she sweetly replies "Oh!" She also loves to point out the body parts (especially her bum, bum ha ha ha!) And loves to tell you the sounds that animals make. I don't know why but when she does the "Baaahh" of a sheep is sounds really frightening...it makes me laugh!

2. Friends: Lydia has become quite the little social butterfly and has friends that she wakes up in the morning asking about. Some are our friends like Colby and Meg and other's are hers like Ameliah,Kaylee,Emma, Kaylee, Tage, Parker, Raini and Bode. She will talk about them and even make phone calls (sometimes real, without me knowing) to them.

3. Art: She loves to draw, color, mold and so much more. Anything that has to do with creating that little girl loves. Her favorite thing to do is to draw pictures on her chalk board. She will sit there for hours drawing and erasing, she usually wants you by her side but I don't mind! She also knows all of her colors. My favorite one is "Yewwow" it is so stinking cute when she points things out that are "pupple, or geen and bue or oge" The best one she says is Pink but we all get it!

4. Shows: Well I have posted about her obsession with "Yo Gaba Gaba", well I am slightly excited to announce that she is done with that and has moved on to "Olivia" Olivia is so much easier to watch and doesn't drive me bananas. She also is obsessed with the movie "UP" it has dogs and balloons her two favorite things ever, she get's so excited every time she sees a balloon, I love it. Also whenever "The Office" comes on she get's all excited and yells "Michael" she knowns most of the characters on the show it is pretty sad.

5.Books: Well I always thought since I taught school my kids would hopefully love reading and books as much as I do but I think Lydia loves them even more. Who are we kidding the kid sleeps with books. Every night we read a few and then she picks out two or three to take to bed or to nap with her. When she wakes up I will go into her room and she will be looking at them just content. Her all time favorite book is "No David!" She has loved it for a long time, and I should take a picture of it because there is no doubt how much she loves it. She has gotten it in the bath without me knowing so it is all warped and some of the pages are ripped out but she can read the entire book with me...it helps that it consists of No and David. But I love it I can say Lydia's what does David's mom say and she will get a mean look on her face and point her finger and say "NO, NO, NO!" It is so fun to see your kids love thins!

6.Entourage: Everywhere Lydia goes her blanket, binky, books, baby and teddy bear are sure to follow! That girl loves her toys. Not only does she sleep with a couple of books she also has to have her baby, her teddy her two blankets and usually a couple of random toys for the night. I keep telling myself it is like the Velveteen Rabbit and she is just making sure all of her toys feel loved.

7. Phone calls: The girl loves to talk on the phone. On occasion I will give her my phone while I am driving to keep her occupied and every once in a while she will call and talk to someone without me knowing. It cracks me up, in one drive to Costco she called her Grandma Knudsen, Her Grandpa Hardman, and my back door neighbor Jill all without me having any idea. I heard her back there talking away and just assumed she was playing pretend, but no she was really talking to people. She now regularly calls (with my supervision now) and talks to anyone and everyone, she loves, loves, loves it. It is so cute when she says, "I miss you!" And "I dove you" it makes my heart melt!

8. Climber and jumper: I know I have posted about Lydia's obsession with jumping but now add climbing to that. Every time I turn around she is climbing on something. The other day I was putting laundry away and it got really quiet. I went into the kitchen to see her in the pantry on the second shelf trying to get to the candy. She had pulled che's food jar out and climbed on that and worked her way up to the candy. Needless to say I moved the candy (ha ha ha!) She climbs on our bed which is really tall for her and jumps off too. I swear that little girl is fearless...I love it. This summer we are going to work on transferring that fearlessness over to water, I'm hoping to be able to take her down the water slide on the house boat this summer!

9.Dancer: She is still my little dancer, every time there is any music you know what Lydia is going to be found doing. Now it is a little more structured. She comes and watches the big girls dance and is always trying to do summer-saults and turns. She loves to get out the mats down in the studio and jump and fall all over them. I can't believe that she will be 2 and able to start dance pretty soon, I'm going to wait until the fall though so I have a chance to get her potty trained and prepped to listen to mommy (ha ha ha!) But I am way excited for her to start to channel her love of dance!

10. My sweet little mini-mommy! I tell ya the girl loves babies. Everytime we see one whether it is at the grocery store, church, or families babies Lydia loves them. She get's a little jealous when I hold them but she goes to them and lightly rubs their belly's and points out their finger and toes. She will feed her little toy dolls and rub their backs and make sure they are feeling ok, I love to see my little nurturer!




Thursday, February 18, 2010

Help Wanted


Well I have felt so blessed to be able to do what I love every single day, and still have the opportunity to stay home with my cutie Lydia. The studio has exceeded my expectation of success, and as such it is time to hire on some help. I figured I would look to those I trust first and then hit the craigslist and ksl arena. Let's be honest this is my baby (i.e. the studio) and I wouldn't just trust it to any joe schmoe off the street so a referral actually means a lot to me. If you know of anyone interested in teaching a few dance classes,in the fall, and possibly starting to sub this spring, just so the girls and parents can get to know ya please let me know! I am looking for someone with studio experience, very dependable and great with kids. I would have to know that it is someone who is as committed to my studio being successful as I am, I know I sound a little obsessive, but it is really important to me. So if you know of anyone please have them either e-mail me or call me and we can set up a time to talk. Also they can check out the blog to sort of get a sneak peak, it isn't a big studio but I have the best girls around!

Thanks:Brittani
www.academyofdance01.blogspot.com
brittaniknudsen@gmail.com
801-842-9900


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Our Valentines/Presidents day getaway!


Well we went on a little weekend getaway with our good friends the millers. I did take some pictures but now my camera is officially MIA (not my nice camera, my "always in my purse" to pacify Liddy or to capture those spur of the moment happy times.) Anyways on the trip it sort of died anyways so I didn't have all that many pics to begin with, but It was a fun trip and so even though I don't have pics I'm going to paint a vivid picture of how fun it was (ha ha ha!)

Here are some of the highlights...
1. Quizno's in Nephi, it is officially my favorite place to eat on the road. Colby and I discovered our complete and utter hatred of "SUBWAY!" I would rather eat a big fat bloody steak than eat at Subway...sorry if you are a fan I still love ya (ha ha ha!)
2. Colby always being lost, because we would forget he didn't know where he was going and would get in our own conversations (sorry colb!)
3. Staying at Meg's grandma's...she was so gracious and seriously has a BEAUTIFUl home. We especially loved laying out fully clothed by her pool it was so relaxing and just what we all needed.
4. The amazing homes at the "Parade of Homes!" We saw everything from a kitty terrarium, cool theaters, amazing playrooms, and darling little Casita's! At the end it was agreed that #25 just couldn't be beat.
5. The Gun Barrel, 1st time there was just to use the restrooms (the guy was a little rude, but still let us use them.) 2nd time, later that same day we decided to actually go there to eat. We were rudely informed they don't have booths, and that they wouldn't accept our coupon that we had. What did we do, we kindly got up and Chris called and complained...see how you do without my business (I'm virtually vegetarian, so I'm sure they aren't too sad ha ha ha!) 6.The outlet's where Chris bought a totally 80's sweater that he is still trying to convince me is cool.
7. Everything Lydia did saying "Colbeee look!" "Meg LOOK!" She was obsessed with them. Since obviously they call Chris by his name by the end of the trip Lydia was officially referring to her daddy as "Chis" it was pretty funny to hear her yell "Chis, I want cookies..."
8. Winging it and going to the mesquite for our final night of Vacay. We were pretty excited that we got a room, until we actually saw it. We booked it through the Casa Blanca but it was at the OASIS and it was a DUMP! But we didn't spend all that much time there and it was an adventure.
9. Chris forcing COlby and Meg to gamble for the first time, getting all the way across town and Chris realizing that he left his wallet on the slot machine where he was demonstrating on. Luckily some kind old ladies and a cowboy found it and turned it in...whhheeewww nothing was missing.
10. Eating at the Casa Blanca buffet which brought back some serious childhood memories...ok, ok I will tell. So every year we used to go to Mesquite and go to Lake Mead. Well my little bro Derek is allergic to shrimp but has this obsession with popcorn shrimp. Every year my parents would remind Derek not to eat the shrimp and every year he would devour plates and plates of it only to make himself sooo ill. Anyways one year I brought my bff (Rachel Simkins) and we went to the buffet for brunch and then hit the road. About the time we hit the canyon before St. George Derek sheepishly yells Dad, pull over. As my dad frantically tries to get the huge saburban with boat pulled to the side of the road Derek calmly says "OOOHHH NNNOOO!" At which point he puts his fingers up to the middle of his lips to stifle the puke. Well the force was too great and it was forced out of the side of his lips only to hit Rachel dead in the face. It was quite disturbing at the time, but quite hilarious to look back on now~! Anyways sorry long side note. We took a pic and sent it to Derek for Valentines as a friendly reminder (ha ha ha!)

11 The highlight of the trip was the amazing use and amount of times that we were able to successfully use the line...


"That's what she said!"

Anyways it was a blast, Meg and Colb thanks again for a great trip! It was an adventure as usual! Hope you guys had as much fun as we did!
P.S. Lydia has woken up every morning since asking for Cobee and Meg, I have to tell her they are sleeping and that they can't come and play to get her mind off of it (ha ha ha!)

So I found my camera, here are a couple of the pics I took!


Playing at the Casa Blanca pool, Lydia went down the slide with Chris and didn't even cry...well until she got out of the pool and decided she was tired that is.


At the parade of homes she found this horse that she had to show each one of us individually, she was pretty excited about it.

At this point she is saying "Cobee, Meg LOOK!"



The cat terrarium, we took this for Carol Miller, Colby's step-mom. She has a kitty that she adores, we thought that this would make a nice addition to their house!

One day when I am RICH (ha ha ha!) I want an infinity pool, oh how I love they way they look!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Things that must GO and Stay!

So my friend Ashley occasionally does a post about things that must go, every time she does I laugh because I can totally relate but when it comes down to it I can't think of anything at the time to add to her list. Well a few things have been building up and so here goes...this is my "Things that must go" list!


1. Having to go to 3 yes I repeat 3 different stores to find conversation hearts that aren't tropical fruit flavored and the size of my head.
2. Finally finding regular good old fashioned hearts, and them obviously being older then I am due to how rock hard they are.
3. East side drivers, I'm sorry I hate the whole east side/west side deal but let's be honest find the petal and DRIVE!
4.Going to Wal-mart and them running out of things (I think it is only the Wal-mart in riverton though) so chalk one up for the east side.
5. Construction going on across the street that shakes my house until I'm sure it is coming down.
6. People who leave their garbage cans out for days, upon days (really is it that hard?)
7. When Thursday's on NBC they don't' air new Community, Parks and Rec, The Office and 30 Rock...my entire week depends on those 2 hours (yes I am that pathetic.)
8. My daughters snotty nose and her running away from me every time I try to wipe it.
9. Che' shaking off every time he enters the house, instantly sending white dog hair EVERYWHERE...AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10. The checker at Costco telling me the movie that I am buying (The time traveler's wife, which I loved btw!) is WEIRD. Then when I try to tell her that the book is much better she goes on to tell me how good "Dear John" was...sorry I hate the guy in that movie, if you have ever seen G.I. Joe you know why and just because she said my movie sucked and her's was good I refuse to see it SO THERE perm lady at Costco.

Here are some things that must stay...
1.Lydia clapping her hands and saying Babe get up...NOW!!! (I had previously tried to get Chris out of bed in a very similar way!)
2.Lydia calling Chris Babe (ha ha ha!)
3.Cute valentines from my dance girls.
4. A kid in primary flipping another kid off (OK I know I'm off base but it was hilarious!)
5. The Alchemist, I am almost finished and I have really enjoyed reading this book not sure what it is going to be about in the end but I'm taking a lot from this that I need.
6. Del Taco...we need one out by us so Chris and I can make our 2 am Del taco runs again...I had a quesadilla for lunch today (they are the BOMB!!!)
7. My comfy costco, ugg wanna be shoes, I want to wear them forever and ever!
8. Lydia wiping her nose, then mine and then making sure that "Olivia" the pig on T.V. got her nose wiped too.
9. My husband giving me funny looks while I'm crying during a movie to make me laugh uncontrollably.
10. Running MWF with my back door neighbor Jill, it has seriously been the best release both physically and mentally to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and relate to. Not going to lie I look forward to 6:30 am just because of that!




Tuesday, February 9, 2010

I'm cool with that!

We had our neighbor's over for pizza and a little "Rock Band" We had a lot of fun playing down in the studio, eating to our hearts content and of course playing some serious "Rock band" action!!! While we were playing...

Lydia and Tage has a blast having their very own tea party.


Shhh don't tell but I want Lydia to date Tage when they are old (ha ha ha!) I think he is the cutest little boy ever!
We were a little worried Parker wasn't going to be too stoked about hanging out at our house since it is all girl stuff but when he heard we were going to be playing rock band he said "I'm cool with that!" What a stud ... he definitely has his rocker face on!

Since it's cold out...

we have had a lot of tea parties, and played a lot of dress-ups! I'm not complaining one bit since who are we kidding it is pretty hilarious when your daughter pats on the chair and says "mom, SIT...NOW!!!" I think she is going to be a little bossy, but I love it! Anyways hopefully everyone else is finding things to do during the hibernation period of winter (ha ha ha!)


We get on our crowns and musn't forget our purses!


a

And then it is of to the races again!


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Oughta be in pictures...NOT!

So last Friday I went to the "Shade" warehouse sale with my good friend Jeni. I was watching her little guy Crew (who is so stinking cute btw) while she was finishing up shopping and while doing so this extremely stylish girl approached me and asked if she could interview me for the "Shade" website. Anyways I was on Facebook today and saw myself on the video (it was a little trippy!) Anyways I am a total dork, and couldn't stop laughing! Here it is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv8QYdMEOD8


P.S. I really don't think I should be on T.V. ever, I just don't have the look (ha ha ha!)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Dear________, I need some advice!

If you take a look at the following pictures you might start to see a trend...Lydia is OBSESSED with her Binky! Now I'll be honest I have loved her Binky for that fact that it has certainly served its purpose. It has brought her comfort, and helped her sleep, but now that she is talking so much more it is time for the Binky to disappear! Anyways we have tried cutting the tip, and that seems to work for a moment or two and then that little stubborn personality wins and she keeps even that one in. Anyways if anyone has any advice they can offer I would greatly appreciate it!










Lydia and her Binky...
They were the best of friends (ha ha ha!)



This is my favorite pic of her holding on to grandpa's finger

Baby Girl

Baby Girl
This is our baby girl at 16 weeks. It was such an amazing thing to see her moving and count all of her fingers and toes for the first time. I know I bawled and Chris won't admitt it, but he was pretty emotional as well.

It's a girl!

It's a girl!

She's going to be a dancer