{ halloween }

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest bumblebee ever...









She doesn't walk by herself yet, so we had her trick-or-treat with her wagon. She loved all the walking around but was so busy pushing her wagon that she just walked right by all the people with treats.





This last picture is of her taking a break in our trunk at the ward Trunk-or-Treat. I do love this smile, but wish we could document her real smile at least once in a while...she flashes this gem every time she sees a camera. Lovely.

{ alive }

We are alive. And well.

A complete computer crash in March and April, extreme busy-ness in May and June, and laziness in between can account for the lack of blogging.

I'm pretty sure I have now forgotten how to post.

I'll try to remember.

Oh, and until I can pull myself together and do a real live post, with lots of pictures and such (first on the list - 4th of July), here's one picture of my cutest baby ever.



Okay - that wasn't so bad. Consider me back on board with blogging.

{ eating: take II }

Orva's mealtime tactics thus far:

- Rice Cereal: close mouth as tightly as possible - do not take any more than three bites.

- Oatmeal: shudder and gag and throw up.

- Green Beans: keep mouth open as long as possible so that nothing is tasted or swallowed.

* In the beginning of the video, she's opening her mouth not because she wants another bite but because she doesn't want to taste the previous bite...

{ eating }

Orva has been eating rice puffs (just plain, as a finger food) for a couple weeks now but I've totally been putting off feeding her other solid foods. It's just so much easier to nurse her. I finally gave in, though, and we started rice cereal the other night. She's pretty sure she doesn't like it.





She puts her hands up by her ears like that when she's sad about things (or tired, or mad, or frustrated, or bored...)

She did, however, love the bib...







...and the spoon...



...and the sippy cup!





The actual food? No thanks.

{ yes i let my child be seen with this bunch }

My little brother and his friends had a day activity for a highschool dance. The boys got dressed up in disguise and went to the mall and walked around while the girls tried to find them. I was at my mom's house before they left and we came up with the idea of dressing Vic and Kyle up as a couple with a baby...a live baby...my baby. Not only did I give my baby to the cause, Kyle wore my jeans. Yes, he fit into them.





I went with them and followed them around to watch people's reactions. It was hysterical.

*Note: when we got to the mall, one of the boys (the one with the dark curly hair) didn't have a disguise. I had been staying at my mom's and had a suitcase full of clothes, so he is wearing my jeans, my shirt, my jacket, my headband, my sunglasses, and my purse. He's the one that got the wildest reaction out of people - it was awesome.

{PICTURE UDPATE}

Make a Smilebox slideshow

{ we've recovered }

Moms and babies should never be sick at the same time...especially when the dad/husband is out of town.

After a very long week (+) of r.s.v. and double ear infections for the bub and nasty cold, sinus infection, and achiness for the mom, we're feeling much better.

I will be doing more posting soon.

{ this is how we keep orva quiet at church }

As long as Orva has free reign with her dress, she's quiet at church. She's happy, we're happy, but her poor dresses end up a soggy mess.











I always want to take pictures of Orva in her Sunday finery, but if we don't do it within 30 seconds of her having her dress on, it doesn't work.

{ my house }

Almost four months after moving in, here are pictures of our new house. We're really enjoying it and have gotten things to a "live-able" point. However, there are a lot of projects I want to do - so for fun, I'll list all the ideas and plans for each room below the pictures.



* I'd love to completely re-landscape (lots of aspen trees and tulips), paint all the trim black, build a new overhang for the porch (wooden posts with wooden slats above), and REMOVE the ugly half circle that is currently over the front door.







* Paint the walls a dark, dark blue (almost navy with a touch of grayish-green), re-do the tile around the fireplace, put in darkish (but still lighter than my bookshelf and chairs) wood floors, paint the coffee table a brighter red, re-cover the ottoman with a zebra print fabric, get new throw pillows (some multi-colored ones in bold oranges, reds, yellows, and greens), pull more silver in (the vases and globes on the bookshelf and the vases on the side table have big plans to become silver), put in some mirrors or glass blocks behind the statues on the bookshelf that you can't see at all, get some glitzy silver and glass lamps, get some mirrored side tables (or somehow mirror the one I have and make it a little taller), paint the fireplace screen silver (or maybe black), and get lots and lots more funky colored vases to go on my mantle (I want the whole thing full, overlapping with the mirror). There. That's all.



* Replace the current light fixture with a funky glitzy crystal chandelier, paint the walls the same blue as the family room, and do something different for the centerpiece, maybe an assortment of small funky clear glass bottles and vases on a bright silver tray with bright green and white flowers in them (a similar look to what I have now, but on a WAY smaller scale, because yes, I know those vases are too large but I just can't bring myself to part with them - I may put some on top of Francisco and then I could maybe live with putting the rest away).





* Yes, that is my whole kitchen. This room will be completely gutted and re-done at some point. We'll be pushing the wall with the stove and fridge back about three feet and then including the little hallway as kitchen space rather than a hallway to our hall. I want a darker slate looking tile, white cabinets, stained concrete countertops (gray-green), a milky see-through green glass tiny tile backsplash, and stainless steel appliances. A dishwasher, garbage disposal, and more than one electrical outlet would be nice, too.



* All I want to do here is paint the walls a chocolate brown, replace the mirror with a smaller framed one, and replace the light fixture with a silvery (small) chandelier. I also am working on finding a cream shower curtain and cream towels that I like (harder than you'd think). Brad wants to completely gut the whole thing and get rid of the pink tile, but I like it - it's vintage and I'm positive I can make it look good with all the chocolate brown, silver, and cream.



* I happen to like the bedroom the way it is and am pretty happy leaving it alone. I am, however, debating painting the walls a mustardy yellowy gold (that sounds awful, I know - but I'm picturing a prettier color than I can describe).







* Orva's room still needs a lot of work...I want to paint the walls a light golden green (the same color our master bedroom was at our old house), paint the changing table cream with a brown antique glaze, paint the baskets brown, fix the changing table shelves (you can't see them in the picture, but there's going to be a roll-out shelf underneath and another shelf on the top right) so that the baskets all have places, finish a cover for a changing pad that will match the rocking chair cover, finish her bedding (I have brown, red, yellow, blue, and green ribbon for the bottom of her dust ruffle and for the pillows in the red basket), paint the dresser (I'm going to leave the top and sides cream, but paint each drawer a different color - blue, green, red, yellow - and then put a brown antique glaze over the whole thing), hang the mirror and plate above the dresser (currently sitting on top of it) so that they balance the height of the mirror next to the dresser, and finish the wall above her crib (with pictures of her, my mom (Orva), and my great grandma (also Orva), along with a really cool letter "O" I have).


Okay, that ended up much longer and much more detailed than I had anticipated. As you can see, my brain is quite full of all the random ideas I have for my poor little house.

And, after typing this post, I'm pretty sure I need more time and more money.

{ rock - a - rock - a }

Orva LOVES rocking in her rocking chair. She usually giggles while she's rocking, but of course, with the camera in sight there was none of that. She did smile a lot for the video, though. It's sort of a funny new smile that she does. She also did a bunch of crazy faces while she was rocking, so I tried to catch some of those on camera, too.

Make a Smilebox photobook

{ parties }

The following five people have commented on the { cents of style } post and are the winners of the extra free pair of shoes!

1. Jill
2. Megan
3. Melissa
4. Chelsea
5. Rebekah

So, you five ladies, go ahead and email me at { tine.gibb@gmail.com } and we'll book your party!

For the rest of you, I'd still love to book more parties. Even though you won't get the extra free pair of shoes, you do still get one free necklace set (along with the other great hostess bonuses). Our new spring line of product comes out at the end of February, so it's a great time to host a party. I'm willing to go anywhere from Payson to Ogden if you'd like me to.

Go ahead and leave me a comment or email me if you'd still like to do a party!

{ cents of style }

Hey Everyone!

Most of you know this (and some have hosted parties before) but for those who don't, this will be a quick intro to a really fun evening. I am a "stylist" for Cents of Style and do parties for people where we sell really fun and funky boots, shoes, purses, jewelry, headbands, and belts - all for $20.00 or less (jewelry is less than $10.00). You book a party to be held at your house and then we bring the inventory to you. Your friends and family then have the evening to shop and buy whatever they'd like.



We're trying to get some parties booked, so if you'd like to host a party at your house, please let me know! For booking a party (it can be for any time - as far in advance as you'd like), you'll get a free necklace and earring set. At your actual party, you'll receive an 8% product credit from the sales of your party, plus one free item if over 20 adults attend.

Also, as a promotion for booking parties right now, Cents of Style will give ONE FREE $10.00 PAIR OF SHOES TO THE FIRST FIVE PEOPLE WHO BOOK PARTIES. Just leave a comment here if you'd like to book a party, and the first five people that do so will get one free pair of shoes in addition to the other hostess bonuses.

So, leave me a comment and we'll set up a date to have a really fun, easy, no pressure party at your house. Who doesn't like to shop for inexpensive fashion accessories?



* Okay, I realize that this sounds totally MLM-ish, but it's really not. There's no pressure to buy, there's no signing up, and there's no official "shpeel" or meeting. I just bring really fun product to your house and let you and your friends shop! *



I took these pictures of items I've bought from Cents of Style to send to my sister when she wanted to book a party. It's a good sampling of what we sell. If you want to check out some more of our stuff, you can click here .

{ tagged: 25 random things about ME }

My sister did this on her blog and two of my other sisters commented that they love reading these tags about other people but hate doing them themselves. I, on the other hand, must be a very self-centered person because I love doing them as much as I love reading them.

So here goes...25 things about me (and if any of you are as self-centered as I am, feel free to join in and do it yourself).

1. I absolutely love being a mother.

2. I have an obsession with organizing things into bins.

3. I can barely stand brushing my own teeth, but I really can't stand seeing or hearing anyone else brush their teeth (gag).

4. I've always wanted to be a dolphin trainer...and still wonder if it could ever be a real possibility.

5. Someday I want to buy several different shops and completely re-work them so that they're the best shop of their kind. I want each one to have a little twist - something like a little cafe that has cement walls and cans of spray paint and markers on the table so that people can "graffiti" the walls while they wait for their food or a clothing shop that's organized by body type and in your section there would only be clothes available that would actually look good on you or an electronics store that you drive through in specialized carts that allow you to experience the products as you go (with a system that allows you to play the wii in your cart as you go through the gaming section or listen to various stereo systems through your cart as you drive through that section). Random, I know, but it's something I really want to do.

6. I really, really like cars. When my husband wants to put exhaust and intake on my 4-runner, I do not provide any sort of balance to the equation because I want it just as much as he does.

7. I love off-roading, camping, and shooting but we somehow never manage to go.

8. I read a lot and find myself getting completely hooked on cheesy romance mysteries (terribly embarrassing but true).

9. I wish I could play the organ and regret not learning when I was a teenager and we actually had an organ in our home.

10. I really want to build a house that resembles an eclectic art gallery - exposed brick walls, exposed copper duct work and piping, big open spaces, funky flooring changes, wide open staircases leading to lofts, amazing artwork and color everywhere, eclectic furniture (francisco), awesome lighting, etc. Brad says it couldn't possibly feel like a home and we'd be the "crazy house" on the block. I'm trying to convince him otherwise.

11. I'm very squeamish about spiderwebs. Spiders don't alarm me because I can see them and squish them. A spider's web means he's just hiding around somewhere not getting squished.

12. I love fashion and clothing, but it's not necessarily because I'm obsessed with how I look or how nice my clothes are. It's somehow artistic to me and that's why I enjoy it so much. I don't know if that even makes sense.

13. I'm pretty sure I could live on avocados and pineapple for the rest of my life. And maybe a tiny bit of chocolate soymilk, too.

14. I love, love, love playing games. Screeble and Ticket to Ride are current favorites, but I'll always love A to Z, Pit, and Mille Bornes. Much to my husband's chagrin, the Farming Game will never make it to my top favorites.

15. I find myself actually enjoying my conversations with Brad regarding politics and economics. I used to get bored and frustrated, but now I get (almost) as involved as he does. I guess that's what happens when the political and economic situations in our country get worrisome.

16. I worry about sending my kids through public schools because I don't feel like they'll get a very solid education. I don't think I even got a very valuable education before college and I know things have gone downhill since I was in school. I'm trying to figure out what sort of private school / home school / charter school system I want to do. Thank heavens I have five years to figure it out.

17. I'm a bit obsessive compulsive about organization, order, matching, even-ness, and the like. When Brad turns the stereo volume up in the car, I have to make sure it lands on an even number. He thinks I'm crazy when I reach over and turn it from "17" to "18". I'm working on it.

18. I've recently finished a household task schedule that I've been thinking about for years. I've now been following the schedule for over a month and it has changed my life. I'm in organizational heaven.

19. Few things are more enjoyable to me than hearing Orva giggle. She's pretty stingy about it, so I find myself doing just about anything to get her little giggles out.

20. Orva's birth went so well and I loved it so much that I actually get jealous when I hear about other people about to have a baby. I do not, however, get jealous when I hear about other people being pregnant. I need a system where I can birth the baby without actually having to be pregnant with it.

21. As self-centered as I may be, I suppose I'm not twenty-five-things-self-centered. This is hard.

22. I'm pretty much all the way vegan. It's so satisfying to be eating so healthy. I've been working on creating a grocery list and eight-week meal plan and it's been very fulfilling to see that I can cook that many delicious and healthy meals.

23. On a not-so-healthy note, I've really struggled getting back on track with doing my Bikram Yoga since Orva was born. I did really well before and during my pregnancy and have failed miserably ever since. Maybe now that I've confessed that to the world, I'll pull myself together and get back on track.

24. I'm afraid I can't really claim to be a grown-up housewife, in charge of a real live house, because I don't own any of the following: a vacuum (we only have a mini shop vac), a strainer/colander, a garlic press, or a table cloth. It's amazing we can even function around here.

25. I happen to be crazy about my husband.

{ unfortunate events }

Completely unrelated to each other, these two unfortunate events occured this week.



#1 - For our date night, Brad and I went to a Toyota dealership to test drive a tacoma. We do this every once in a while just for fun, with no intention of actually buying the vehicles we drive. When we were dating, we would pretend we were engaged and say that our parents were buying us a car for our wedding. Now, we always say that Brad has started a new job and we want to upgrade. We don't do it all that often, but yes, this is a horrible thing to do to poor car salesmen. Anyway, this last time of test driving may have cured us of our habit. We were looking at the Tacomas and on a whim, asked the salesman if we could take a look at the new 4-Runners. He went to the other side of the lot to drive one over for us and while doing so, backed the 4-runner into a Tundra. Both vehicles were damaged. We felt AWFUL. He proceeded to tell us that if we were to buy the 4-Runner (damaged) he would give us a really good deal. He quoted us a price and it was, indeed, a really good deal. We nearly bought it just to make his day a bit better and to relieve some of our guilt in being the cause of his trouble in the first place.

We didn't buy it. We still feel guilty.




#2 - Orva was sitting (very happily) in her bouncer while I was taking a shower. She suddenly went from talking and babbling to WAILING and I glanced out to see her on her back in front of the bouncer...on the tile floor. No, I did not strap her in. She wiggled her way right out and even managed to hit the corner of the vanity on the way down. Surprisingly, she recovered quite quickly and I put her back in her bouncer, buckled her tightly, and got back in the shower. After my shower, I was getting ready with her still (happy again) in her bouncer. I tipped my face toner off the side of the counter and it sprayed her right in the eye. We went the rest of the day with a very red side of the face due to direct contact with the side of the vanity and the tile floor and a very red eye due to direct contact with my toner.

This, too, caused much guilt on my part. Hopefully we'll have a better week next week, with less guilt involved.

{ pictures }

Here are some recent pictures (very cute ones) of the bub. She's getting better at smiling.

{ francisco and carlos }

My new loves:

Francisco







and Carlos





We were out and about yesterday and passed some signs advertising a furniture sale. The signs directed us to a sketchy warehouse on a little side street, but we went in and found these gems (I found many many many more gems, but only these two came home with me). It turned out that the sale brought the prices down to only twice our budget rather than four times our budget. I, however, am very good at bartering and talked them WAY down on these two items. The sales lady came back to me three different times with progressively lower price quotes, but I told her I needed it to be even lower so we finally settled on her giving them to me at cost. I couldn't be more pleased. I think the she probably caved when I told her that my house would forever revolve around the one piece (the green) if I could just have it. Or maybe it was when I told her that it would be my Valentine's Day, Birthday, Mother's Day, Anniversary, and Christmas gift for 2009 (it really will be). Or maybe she decided to sell it to me at cost because we were in our Saturday-going-to-Home-Depot-working-on-the-house-no-shower sort of clothes. The store was full of much better paying (and looking) customers and she probably needed to get us out of there. Needless to say, we bought them and I've been sitting on my couch staring at my dear Francisco ever since. I love Carlos, too, but who can compete with this?



* Don't ask about the naming of the furniture. Brad randomly names furniture like that - it all started with Betsy. It's actually quite handy, though. Instead of saying, "go put this away in that one really cool antique Indian lime green table thing in our front room by the window" you can say "go put this way in Francisco". I guess we could call it a sideboard (I think that's what it really is) but Francisco works for me. *

* Francisco really is made from antique Indian doors (200 years old) and Carlos is an antique from China (between 100 and 200 years old). They got Spanish names, though, because Brad did the naming (and because we don't know any Indian or Chinese names). *

* Yes, I will someday post pictures of my whole house and not just snippets. I will even do it before I am "finished" with everything - just not today. *

* So sorry for the plethora of parting notes. *

{ christmas }

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

{ beginning traditions }

Reading Christmas stories beneath the lights on the Christmas tree...

{ the christmas trees of past and present }

On our fifth Christmas together, Brad and I finally pulled off an official Christmas tree.



Now, a bit of Christmas tree history:

1st Christmas - we decided not to get one (didn't want to spend the money on a tree, plus a stand, lights, and ornaments). One of our neighbors saw we didn't have one and left one on our doorstep on Christmas Eve. It was a lovely fake tree - about a foot and a half tall. We tried to hang the one ornament we owned on it, but it was too heavy and the tree tipped over. We wound a few pieces of ribbon through the branches and called it good.

2nd Christmas - used the same tree as last year, with the same ribbon.

3rd Christmas - we finally bought a live Christmas tree. It was very small, but pretty. We had no lights and didn't want to buy any...and no ornaments either. I did upgrade our ribbon to some fancier pieces, but that's all it had. It smelled delicious, though - we were happy enough.

*Note - with our 3rd Christmas tree, we needed a tree stand. To be frugal, I found one for free on Freecycle and went to pick it up. The woman had told me she would leave it on her front doorstep for me. I took it home and cleaned it all up (it was a very nice stand, but dirty and full of spiderwebs). A few hours AFTER picking the tree stand up I got a phone call from the Freecycle woman asking me if I was going to come pick up the stand. I informed her that I already had it. She was silent for a moment and then told me that her tree stand was still on her front porch...she proceeded to describe her house to me and it was NOT the house I had gotten the tree stand from. We discovered that I had stolen a tree stand off her neighbor's front porch (apparently they were just storing it out there). I quickly got back in the car and drove back to the house and sneakily put the newly cleaned tree stand back on the front porch. I then went next door and picked up the tree stand I was supposed to have gotten in the first place.

4th Christmas - I was determined to do better this year, so I purchased all new ornaments and trimmings and got some lights from my mom. We got a beautiful live tree, brought it home, cut off the bottom, hauled it up three flights of stairs, and set it up in the stand. The next morning we realized we had not watered it. We hauled it back downstaiirs, cut the bottom off again, hauled it back upstairs, and put it back in the stand - with water! We then got so busy we did not take the time to light and decorate it right away. I then got so sick (pregnant) that by Christmas it was lit about a foot from the bottom and a foot from the top - no lights in the middle and no ornaments. It stayed in our house that way (very dead) until March. I'm sure many people would have been willing to help us take it down, but Brad was too busy and I was too sick to even go so far as to ask for help.

5th Christmas - this year's tree involved the following:

- getting very lost trying to find the christmas tree lot
- falling in love with an expensive tree, but bartering with the guy running the lot and getting 15 dollars knocked off the price
- six different trips to different stores to purchase, return, and purchase lights again
- having to take (large) sections of lights off the tree four different times because they stopped working (after having worked when tested)
- finally having the tree fully lit and ready for decorations a week after bringing it home
- only being able to keep the lights on for five minutes at a time because they would trip the power cord and turn off (they're serious when they say not to hook more than five strands together...)
- a lot of work and money, but a fantastic result (for five minutes at a time)

{ new game }

This is Orva's favorite new game. For a few weeks she would try really hard to make this noise (pphhhhbbbttttt) but couldn't do it. She would press her lips together really hard and stick them out, but no noise would come out (only drool). She was very pleased when she finally learned how to do it.



* There are still a few times in the video where the noise doesn't come out, but if you look really closely at her lips, you can tell she's trying very hard.

This is what her face looked like when she was learning how to make the noise.

{ random pictures }

Make a Smilebox slideshow

{ bumbo }

* Pardon the poor picture quality - they were taken on Brad's iPhone. I thought they were still cute enough to post.

{ grandma orva's dress }

Grandma Orva (my mom) wore this dress when she was a baby. It's been so fun to have my Orva wear it now.

{ lights at temple square and swimming }

My mom and dad and two of my younger brothers spent a weekend at a hotel up here in Salt Lake. We joined them for an evening to see the lights on temple square.





Orva loved looking around at all the lights and stayed awake for a very long time. Toward the end, though, she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer so we turned the pack around and let her sleep.

* By the way, she's wearing a "popover". It's a cozy suit that has a hole in the back so it fits over her in a carseat, in the pack, or in a stroller. The hood is reversable so she can face in or out in the pack. We love it!





The next morning we went and joined them at their hotel to go swimming.





Orva loved the water.



She loved "kick-kick-kicking".



She didn't mind floating on her back.



She loved swimming back and forth between mom and grandpa.



She loved the splashing and being passed around.



She did not like being dunked.

{ kitty }

Brad's family has this cat who doesn't even have a name...we just call it "kitty" or "the cat". Kitty is known for his charming personality:

- If you are sitting on the couch reading a book, he will swat the book out of your hand and demand to be petted.

- He will stalk you.

- He will sit by the door and scratch it, wanting to go outside. If you walk by and do NOT let him out, he will chase you down and pounce.

- He sleeps in your bed (welcome or not) and not just at the foot of the bed - right in the middle (and cannot be moved).

- He has the meanest glare I've ever seen.

- He weighs close to 20 pounds.

- He is bigger than my child.



I consider myself lucky that he did not climb into Orva's crib and squish her while we were there.