have you heard?

i work at this great little wedding gown boutique. its called abella bridal and let me just say, it is fabulous. they have truly stunning gowns, and they are so unique and differenct than the typical utah wedding dress. know anyone getting married? send 'em my way! we're down in the riverwoods shopping mall in provo.

check out wedding gowns here

we have a new line this year, but its not on the website yet. check them out here

we also have tons of fun prom/homecoming/bridesmaids dress.

and a blog- lots of photos of real girls in the dresses

so, if you are in the area, don't be a stranger (read, i am really bored and need someone to come visit me!)

lame lame lame

took a little blogging hiatus the last couple of weeks.

honestly, got a little bored with it. but i'm back at it.

here's life as of right now

little bug: the cutest monster ever. sleeping through the night consistently. throws tantrums over nothing, eats like its her last meal, and runs into everything. trying to teach her what no means- so far, completely unsuccessful. however, she has completely mastered the stairs, going up. going down, she still thinks she can walk down every time, and someone will catch her. she thinks she is the funniest thing around and has developed quite the chuckle. LOVES the pool, bathtime, and anything involving water.

the hubby: still my bestest friend. working two jobs, getting ready for a heavy semester come fall, and lookin' good. (lost some weight- so proud of him!) getting close to finishing school, but will be prolonging it just a little longer to add a coaching minor to the exercise science major. its going to be a long, tough year until that happens, but so worth it in the end. egd (estimated graduation date: december 2010).

moi: same old, same old. decided that i am done with school for the time being- on campus anyways. i'm not far off, and it will get done (promise! i know, trust me i know how important education is) will likely be taking some online classes, but for now i just want to be a mommy. it brings the greatest joy in life, and the few hours that i do spend at work each week i really miss playing with little monster.

in other news: we sold our corolla, manny. it was sad to see it go, but now we get bikes! which i am pretty excited about. now just to my little corolla from high school.

my little sister sarah spent the last two weeks out here nannying for a friend. it was so fun to have her around a couple times! we had a sibling dinner one sunday, and it is so sad to think that this will be one of the last times this will happen for two years! my little bro marsh is getting ready to leave for brazil in just a few short weeks. which brings me to the next few weeks...

heres the scoop:

all the sibs are flying out next week for: a wedding reception at the homestead for a good friend from high school/last time together for two years/time to spend with future sister-in-law/marshall's farewell at church/vacation. will be a slam-packed weekend, but we don't do these things any other way except for jam-packed.
the day after i get back, the hubster goes to his homestead in nc with the monster for a week with his fam. most of them haven't met claire yet, so we decided it needed to happen sooner rather than later.
the week after that = two years of married bliss for us
the week after that= start of school

the end of summer is approaching a little too quickly..... you had better believer that i will be hanging on to the last golden rays as long as possible. now if only we can put off the snow as long as last year, i will be just fine (that was claire's birthday, in november that we had the first snow.)

maybe i'll find some pictures or a video or something for later. now off to work.

oh so busy

i feel like i am playing catch up constantly these days.

mostly:
watching joe catch the ball at softball,
getting caught up on sleep- claire is sleeping through the night again!
trying to catch claire before she destroys a folded laundry pile, a stack of diapers, toilet paper, trash cans, shoes, etc.
getting caught up in YW- lotsa work, lotsa fun
catching claire's vomit before it gets the carpet, furniture, me....

i love the feeling of being busy- don't get me wrong. just be patient while i get things back to how they should be again.

speaking of busy.... i was feeling a little cooped up yesterday and decided we needed to appreciate nature for a few minutes. so off to bridal veil falls (marshall had never been). along with everyone else and their dogs. we left after just a few minutes- no chance to enjoy nature when wet dogs are splashing us on every side. made us really want one.

coming up this week:
YW activities
Harry Potter- way more excited for this than twilight!
youth conference
sarah comes to visit!
shots- boo :(

and coming soon:
trip to a dairy farm
trip to stl
trip to nc
pool time
get excited!

one more little update- my sister in law laura and her family said good bye to their adorable litle garrett last thursday. he was here on this earth for a very short time, but we know that he is still an important part of the family. his time in this world has left a positive influence on many, and we look forward to meeting the little guy some day.
we love you bell family!

thoughts

just wanted to share some thoughts spurred by this picture.

meet garrett. one day old. my newest nephew. hes fighting for his life right now. his big sister can't touch him. in fact, no one can really touch him without causing him severe pain. i haven't even met this little guy but i am already so in love with him. i may never get to meet him in this life, and while the thought wrenches at my heart, i know that he would be able to be pain free.

my sister-in-law is so incredible. she knew early on that garrett would not be like his loving siblings, but she carried on nonetheless. i can't imagine the strength it takes a woman to go on while never knowing the outcome. the faith of this woman.

i sat tonight holding my baby as long as i could while she fell asleep. shedding tears of grattitude just to be able to hold her, i looked over to a painting of the Savior hanging on the wall. more tears fell as i knew that He has already done it all for garrett, for me, for my sweet baby claire. for everyone. He made it possible for me to have a family. and not just for a little while. how sad it would be not knowing that no matter what happens to little garrett, he would be an eternal part of his family. i took a class at BYU that was centered around a book based on "The Family: A Procclamation to the World" and i doubt i will have another class like it. i memorized this document word-for-word, and one of my favorite lines continues to be "... the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." NOTHING in this world will ever be more important to me than my family. i strive daily to make sure that the things that i am doing will help my family reach to my goal of eternal life together.

many people in the spotlights have passed away in the last couple of days. and they left behind so many grieving family members and friends, who don't know that they can be reunited. how deep their sadness must be at this time. i pray that they may somehow find comfort and peace.

i was reminded today of what happened exactly eight months ago. my father just happened to be in the best possible place at the time, and was blessed to have the medical advances that are available today. i almost lost my dad eight months ago, and by a true miracle he was in a hospital when his heart basically stopped. this was only five days after claire was born, another miracle in and of itself. how incredibly thankful i am that we have modern medicine- garrett has made it this far and my dad is still here because of it. we are truly blessed

garrett, there are so many who love you. you are an angel, and a sparkle in your parent's eyes. we wish we could be closer so that we could at least meet you.

just some thoughts.
the procclamation
more about our savior
how to be an eternal family

the fourth

from linds' blog. watching the fireworks in the street- she wanted to watch them but couldn't stand the noise....

as of late

because i cannot get enough of this girl.

she has started to fall asleep on joe's chest every so often these days.
here she pretends, but she was asleep minutes later

like this

caught her being naughty while her diaper was being changed :)

hamming it up for the camera!

so she's realized that when the camera's out, a flash is gonna go off after the red, and she always blinks for the real flash. so i let the red go off, but stopped it so she would blink and i could snap this. love the cheesy.

she HATES being left out of anything. trying her best to get in on the action in the kitchen.

shes got sass. just look at the face- its like shes saying 'there's no WAY i'm eating that.'

bad that she likes tv? she only watches a minute at a time. too many other things to do.

AND

katie and lindsay's adventures in cooking domestic-ness: strawberry jam episode!

decided to take advantage of a good deal on strawberries, and figure out how to make my mom's strawberry jam! turns out, its easier than i thought. will definitely be using this 'life skill' for a long time!

cutting it up

juicing it up

out it comes

YUM.

the end.

happy fourth

hope everyone had a great a holiday!

between friday and saturday we had 3 bbq's and an unknown number of guests stop by. friday for lunch we had some of joe's work friends, friday afternoon and evening (the main event) we had neighboors, friends, mission companions, wives, and relatives come over for more cookin' out, rock band, and fireworks. it was a blast! saturday we attmepted to go to the parade, and as soon as we made our way through traffic and found a spot, and got ready to walk it started pouring. we said 'forget it' and went home. i did NOT want to deal with traffic that day, and ventured out for just a few minutes and was upset after moments of driving (claire was too!). provo is th place to be on the 4th, but i can't stand being stuck in traffic like that. later that day, lindsay wanted to have a few friends over for bbq and swimming. i said 'why not? we've had so many other people over whats a few more' and come they did.

i think i'm done as far as hot dogs and hamburgers go for a while.

there was so much going on i didn't feel like taking pictures. will steal from sister later.

in the midst of it all, claire turned 8 months, and she is a walking terror. my neighbor kept joking today at church that she needed to go to the nursery. she is bigger than some of them, and would seriously take them down i think. we'll keep her for sure, but she is not gonna calm down any time soon.

bytheway- another ambulance had to come take someone from church today. 2nd time in two months. and neither of them were even the old people that make up half the ward! it was kinda surreal seeing men in suits running around the building like that. so greatful they knew what they were doing.