It was a Merry Christmas

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  We hunkered down this year in our little home with anticipation of our new arrival who should be coming any day now..

Our Christmas day was a day full of present opening, family phone calls, pac-man playing, banjo dueling, chocolate eating fun!  Even though we are far from family we were able to catch up and talk to many of them.  I love how Christmas brings family together where ever you are 

We keep it festive up in here!  It reminds me of the movie Better Off Dead where the Mom makes her husband wear these festive holiday coats.  Unfortunately I only found antlers

Matt, we need to add this to our Christmas movie collection!

Our Christmas Family Tree

One day I went with Matt for a run.  While Matt did the running, I took a walk through a deserty field across from his campus to collect sticks.  Because it was getting late my main fear was scorpions and the fact I was wearing flip flops didn't help.  Luckily I walked away with no stings and plenty of sticks all which I ended up throwing out except this one.  

This lucky stick has served as a fall decoration to now a Christmas decoration.  We printed off some of our old family pictures taken around Christmas time to display on our stick friend.   
  

Fun, easy, Christmas decoration using what I love most.. old pictures :)  

We love our family!

Our Advent Christmas/Baby Countdown

 I found this display shadow box about 3 years ago with my Dad at a junk meet with the sole purpose of turning it into an advent calendar.  I was inspired by my sister n law Ismari's advent calendar that she put together around that time.  Last year I finally finished my long awaited project!

Each day has a slip of paper that has us read something about Christ's life, or to make cookies for neighbors, or to learn to play a new Christmas song.. typical advent schtuff 

        

 

And then on days with no slips, we get to indulge in some fancy belgium chocolates! ooh la la! 

Merry 7th day of the Christmas season!

Our table adoption story

This is a bit of a flash from the summer past, but heres to catching up with some blogging!

It was back in June where we took a little vacation with Matt's family in a little piece of heaven called Ventura, CA

It gets my stamp of approval as a legit vacation spot.  It's a small beach town surrounded by strawberry fields and has a nice downtown shopping strip filled with fun specialty shops, antique and thrift stores. 

 

  Our cozy rented beach front house :)

 

 We rented kayaks and surfboards and played in the freezing water..wetsuits required!

Then we hit the shops!  So many fun and unique shops here!  It was in a thrift store though, that I found what I knew had to come home with me.  A beautiful chrome lined, formica topped diner table in grey and yellow.  She was a beauty! They were the exact colors I wanted and this dirty little table was priced oh so good.  

We managed to cram 5 people, 4 chairs, and a table top into our Matrix with the encouragement of Mama Cline.  We offered to drop everyone off first but her response every time was "oh no we will all fit!"  Lo and behold we did!  It was the tightest and most uncomfortable 15 minutes driving in a car in my life!:) 

The table continued on our road trip with us to San Diego then back to Arizona.  Matt shined up the chrome and we scrubbed down the chairs (magic erasers are miracle workers!) and now our table has become a part of the cline household

Welcome home you good lookin piece of furniture

The belly picture

Well here you go!  The belly picture you all have been asking for.  And just for yall I decided to hide nothin...here she be

We took a picture a month and have finally finished!  I still can't believe its been 9 months!  I have been blessed with a great pregnancy and I can echo what my Mom told me when she said she enjoyed being pregnant!  I was able to chase after twins and continue my job at Trader Joe's which was no walk in the park these past 9 months

Matt, this clown makes me smile!  Here he is at 9 months too.

  

Hail to the quiet book

So as a goodbye present I made "my twins" each a quiet book.  My Mom made 8 of these, one for each  of my siblings, so I thought if she can make 8 I can definitely make 2!  Well it took me about 3 months to finish these blasted books and I finished on my last day with the boys at their house frantically putting the finishing touches to it.  

Lets just say that I've gained great respect for ANYONE who goes through allll the work and endless trips to Hobby Lobby to make a quiet book!  They are a LOT of work and time!  One day my mom even offered to help (she's in Texas) so that same day I had a package packed and sent to her!   (When she got it she remembered why she said she would never make another quiet book again)

Well here are the pages of my books.  They by no means are as good lookin as my Mom's books or my friend Kathryn who inspired me long ago to do these too.  Check her book out here.  As long as they do their job and keep those boys quiet then I'll be satisfied.  

 Snap the shapes on

 Elmo Puzzle & Build an ice cream cone

 Complete the train

 Banana picking & Today's forecast

 Bird puzzle & Ladybugs

Memory game with colors 

Farm with finger puppets 

 Match the colors  & frogs

ABC's & memory game with different patterns 

 Train again

Tic Tac Toe & snap shapes 

Another elmo puzzle

I said goodbye to my babies a month ago.  I started a year ago as their nanny when they were teeny tiny helmet wearing babies.  It has been so fun watching them learn to crawl, walk, and climb and to see how different they are turning out to be. 

My last day was so sweet.  As I put them down for a nap, I explained to them that I was leaving and they were just so cuddly with me!  Then I had to say goodbye to the parents which was so sweet too.  They were such a great family to work for!   

  At about 18 months

At about 22 months

This is my last week at Trader Joe's and then I have to say more goodbyes.  I will miss all my co-workers there as well.. they are a great bunch of people.  Then all I will have to do is wait 3 more weeks for our lil one to come:)  I can hardly wait!  It'll make all these goodbyes soooo worth it!

these days

          

These days I feel very pregnant anymore.  It's getting harder for me to bend down let alone stand back up.  My feet are so heavy and tired after a shift at Trader Joe's.  I am ALWAYS dehydrated no matter how much water I drink.  Bathroom trips are still frequent.  And my "inny outy" belly button has turned into a full on outie as many people continue to comment on how they can see my belly button. Yes, I know!

Matt and I love looking at baby things, although registering at stores for those baby things burns a person out quick.  It forces you to look at EVERY little baby accessory, (which there are too many) and causes you to spend about 2 hours soaking in ALL the things babies require which then becomes overwhelming.  It makes me tired just thinking about it!

Matt and I went to Bajio's tonight.  I have been begging him to take me because the last time I had been  to a Bajio's or have ever seen another Bajio's was in Rexburg 5 years ago.  Oh and it's delicious!  We were the only one's in the restaurant so who knows how long we will be able to enjoy one here so close. Matt FINALLY finished classes today and is preparing for clinicals.  Yay!  This was our "Friday night" since I have to work every night this weekend.

And well, thats about all for now!

OMG Vintage Lisa Frank

So as I was going through my daily junk emails of about 20+ (call me crazy but I like junk email), and came across an urban outfitters email revealing their re-debute of a HUGE collection of vintage Lisa Frank.  This won best junk email of the day!  Even week! I remember going to the store and seeing a whole wall designated for Lisa Frank accessories.  Just imagine the most girly, bubbly, bright illustrations of panda bears and rainbows painted in pinks and purples.  That would be Lisa Frank. 

Urban Outfitters interviewed Lisa Frank herself with a tour of the factory.  Check that out here:

Lisa Frank Video

happy birthday matt :)

hey! it's this guy's birthday today! he's pretty much everything i ever wanted and more.  i love you guy!