Uh, you could have left the rain in Ireland!

Lots of exciting things happening at our house this week. Well, I'm going to classify them as exciting. Jon would probably put them under the category of miserable. We finally got around to replacing the roof on our house. Jon hired a few young men and had some friends volunteer their Saturday. They planned to have the whole thing done in a day. Of course, they picked the hottest Saturday we've had so far and they didn't last too long through the miserable afternoon. Plus, it turns out the original roof builders did an exceptionally crappy job so there was a lot more to do than they thought.

Long story short, Jon has gotten up every morning as soon as the sun comes up to work on the roof and then back up every day after work until the sun goes down. Then the elements conspired against him.

It started with the wind storms on Wednesday. We were lucky we didn't lose everything up there. And then yesterday it rained. Hard. So my poor wonderful husband was up on the roof soaked to the bone as the rain poured into our apartment/garage as he put up tarp and felt to keep the rain out of our house. It's Vegas, isn't it supposed to just be hot and sunny all the time?!

And then I realized the weather change oddly correlated with the arrival of my half-Irish sister, Kristy. Coincidence? I'm not so sure. Vegas hits its hottest May in history (107 degrees) and then the day Kristy arrives suddenly the skies are grey and the rains come down. It's definitely suspicious.

Ok, not really. Having Kristy here is the absolute greatest! Scarlet totally loves her. She only calls three people by name, me (mom), Jon (dad), and her friend Jane. But now Kristy has been added to the list. Sure we kinda had to change her name to Titty, close enough. She is down here for about two weeks. It's her first time ever meeting Scarlet and we're doing our best to update her post-missionary wardrobe and get her ready for summer semester at BYU. But between house projects, my upcoming dance/theater recitals for my classes, and keeping up with my way too mobile child, having two extra hands around during the day has been beyond wonderful!

Those Surprising Firsts

There are many 'firsts' when it comes to babies and there are some of them that I knew I would love. I knew I would love my child's first words, steps, and all those other wonderful movie moments all parents anticipate. But what has taken me by surprise are the firsts that have overwhelmed me with happiness that I wasn't expecting. For example, when Scarlet was two weeks old and I got to put her in her first Sunday dress with her little shoes and her beautiful little bracelet with a bow in her hair I was in heaven. I felt like a six year old girl all over again with the most perfect doll in the entire world. There was nothing that could bring me down from that mom high that day.

I had another unexpected moment like that today. I put Scarlet's hair in pigtails for the first time today.

Jon had pointed out her sprouting mullet a few days ago and I thought I would give them a try this morning, not sure if her hair would be long enough. Sure enough, they were and suddenly my beautiful little child transformed instantly in my eyes to a beautiful toddler. She just looked so mature (one year old mature) and adorable I was just head over heels in love with it. Ok, it might have been a bit of an extreme reaction but I really enjoyed them.

I am really hoping I'm not alone in my overreaction to unexpected firsts... I can see this sounding really weird. :) Oh well, my blog right?

Happy Mothers Day... To Me!

I had such a great Mother's Day. My first true Mother's Day was last year when Scarlet was about 2 months old. But she had just gotten the stomach flu and passed it along to Jon so it was a day of throw-up for me! I didn't even get to go to church to hand out whatever random thing they were passing out. I remember in ML's first ward every year the mothers would get a flower and then the fathers (on Father's Day) would get a giant cookie! Uh, can I call for a trade on that one? I really believe the present pickers are underestimating the women's love for a good treat.

Jon wanted to make me a special breakfast, but I really only like cereal for breakfast so instead I got to eat in bed. We had great church meetings and I got a cute little church book (one I already own but it is really cute... who can have too many cute little books?!) But really probably the best present of the day was that the primary president said I could take Scarlet to nursery. How awesome is that?!

I kept her during Sunday School because she usually takes a nap. She didn't, so right before it ended, I took her over. Unfortunately they had moved on from toy playing to coloring which she isn't super into yet so I was a little concerned but she seemed fine. Then like 3 minutes later, one of the moms told me Scarlet was having a hard time in there so I flipped out and went to check on her. She was playing and smiling... with a cookie in hand. Food fixes everything for that child.

After we got home, Jon handled lunch and nap while I laid out on our brand new hammock with a book. It was heavenly. Don't we have a great backyard for a hammock?

It's not a great picture of Scarlet's dress but it was exceptionally adorable and poofy. She was a little uncomfortable in it but I decided she would wear it as her present to me! Yup, I am officially a big fan of Mother's Day.

Nasty...

So Jon has been very dedicated recently to putting up the wainscot in our living room. It involves really big whirring sharp saws and frequent use of a nail gun. I can't help thinking that he is just destined to lose a finger or any other extremity but so far, so good... until last night.

I am sitting on the couch being supportive of his work from a distance when I hear a pretty loud, 'Ow!' followed by, 'Kacey, can you get me a towel?' No, he didn't lose a finger, but he did put a two inch nail through his toe! So so so gross. We still aren't really sure how it happened, he thinks he just had the gun at too much of an angle. He really wanted me to take pictures, in fact he was sad I didn't take one before he pulled out the nail but I thought that was a memory best saved without too many disturbing images. (I'm sure there are husbands reading this thinking 'what, no nail in toe photo?! Lame...)

Hopefully pictures of the finished product (ideally as blood-free as possible) soon to come!

I Just Like Looking at her!

I have been better about taking pictures of Scarlet lately and I wanted to post a few of my favorites.

This was shortly after breakfast, Scarlet wanted to go hang out in the backyard for a bit.

I kinda forgot about the big pile of sawdust until I saw her butt afterward.

She has decided her bouncer toy is fun again. She sat in it like this all afternoon. Jon finally set it up for her again and it's like she has discovered an old friend.

I loved these pictures so much I made my favorite the headline for our blog, but I liked this one too.

And then these I just took this morning. My mom brought this back for Scarlet from Hawaii and she finally got to wear it to church today!

My Name

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Lady Acura (Sweet, I think I"m a rapper)

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Chocolate Oreo (Hmm, sure doesn't sound like a white girl name)

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) K-Nie ... that one sucks

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Red Puppy

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Earl Provo (Not bad... If I was a boy)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Nieka ... ooh I like that one

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Black Crystal (ok, its actually crystal light but dropping the light sounded so much tougher.)

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) James Owen

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Love Struck Shockers (haha, that would be quite the name)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Dee Thurn... wow that is an ugly name

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Hammond Hollywood

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Spring Rose ... is this like the name they would say over your ear piece, 'Mission Gardener is under way, spring rose can you read me?'

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Grape Caprie

14. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Ohs Oak ... that one sucks too

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, weather element+ Tour") The Dancing Hurricane Tour

Yeah, that was fun.