Oh!

And for those of you who use MyPoints, if you go through MyPoints first and place an order online (even if I deliver it to you), you can get 1000 points. Woo-hoo!

AAaagh! Selling things.

I joined Avon.

Oy. I'm so bad at selling things that I was almost immediately kicking myself, but it's done, and I'm not going to give up before I even try.

I decided to do it because I like Avon's new products. They are much much better than when my mom was buying it 15 years ago when I was living at home. Their skincare line has helped my acne (when I use it regularly like I should) more than any other product I have ever tried. So I'm buying their stuff and I believe in it, so it should be easier than selling other kinds of retail.

Anyway...if you want to check out their products, or hear more about them, or try some samples, or just place an order, call me or check out my "store" here: http://swatts8764.avonrepresentative.com/

If you don't live near me, but want to order, you can place an order online. I'm told that if your order is over $30, shipping is free and if it's not over $30 shipping is only $3. Let me know if you try it and that's wrong okay? I don't want to be giving out bad information. But I'm pretty sure that's right.

If nothing else, just wish me luck, or keep me in your prayers okay? I'm going to need all the help I can get. :)

Cars, trucks, and vans, among other things

So I've really been feeling the need to make this apartment feel like home lately, so I've been checking KSL to see if I could find some deals on bookshelves or other furniture for the livingroom. (I have 14 boxes of books stacked in my bedroom at the moment and my livingroom is pretty huge without much to fill it.) I finally found an ad for 4 bookshelves that were only $50 total, which I thought was a great deal. The lady lived in Layton (about an 1 hr 15 min. north of here), though, so it would have been quite a drive just to go pick up some bookshelves. BUT...Steve was planning to go to Logan (about 2 hours north of here) that weekend anyway, so I thought it was a sign from the universe that we needed to get these bookshelves. As it turns out, I was wrong. Remind me to not try to read signs into the universe in the future, okay?

So, we had to borrow Steve's parents' van to pick up the shelves, since we don't own a vehicle that could hold one bookshelf, let alone 4. I spoke to the lady the day before and told her when he would be driving through there and got directions (they were at a storage shed) and everything was good. Well, Steve knew he was going to get there a few minutes late, so he called her to let her know, but she didn't answer. When he gets to Layton, she still hasn't called, so he was just going to go to the storage place, but due to the utter ridiculousness of Utah drivers, ends up rear-ending a guy driving a brand new Nissan. Both cars were still driveable, and no one was hurt, thank goodness. He tried calling the lady again and called me and had me try calling her, to no avail. So to get to the end of a story that probably shouldn't have taken this long to tell...We never got ahold of the lady, so no bookshelves, AND the damages totalled his parents van plus we still have to pay the $500 deductible.

Good signs from the universe, my foot.

Emilia has gotten a LOT better lately about riding in the car, though, which I'm enjoying. For a while there, she would make me play Pooh and Piglet the whole way there (where ever we were going) and the whole way back. And if you don't know, I HATE playing that "game." So, I've gotten into the habit of not bringing them if we go on a car trip, and that problem is solved. Woo-hoo! She likes looking out the windows, though, and she can make it almost the 45 minutes to my mom's house without needing anything else to entertain her. (If I give her goldfish crackers, she can make it the whole way. haha.) But she has to tell me the color of every decently large truck that we pass and make sure I look to see that she saw it. Which can be cute for the first 20 trucks or so. But anything's better than Pooh and Piglet, so I'll count my blessings on that one.

And more quips from my daughter that I've had on facebook (these are all since the end of August).

I find it funny that Emilia speaks like she's a book. Some things that she's said recently while playing: "I wonder, Daddy said." "You scared me, Piglet stammered."

So, Emilia greeted me after church yesterday with two endearing phrases. (For those of you who don't know, she is in a nursery class with other kids her age for the last two hours of church.) Right after church, Steve picked her up from nursery, but I was still in the Relief Society room chatting, so he brought her to me so we could go. As as she sees me, she yells (to Steve), "Momma! I found her!" It would have made my heart glad if that was the only thing she yelled. But as soon as I picked her up, she started yelling, "I didn't miss you, Momma! I didn't miss you!" which she continued to yell all the way to the car.

After waking up early from her nap, Emilia turned to me and said, "I want a present today," and then said something about how it should be outside on the lawn. Haha. I think she misses her birthday.

My daughter is so funny! The last few days, whenever we say things like, "C'mon, Emilia, time for bed!" she yells, "Run away!! Run away!!" and then follows her own advice.

When Emilia has me play dolls with her, they are named Baby and Another Baby. Like this--
Emilia: You need a bottle, Another Baby?
Me: Yes, I'm thirsty.
Emilia: You thirsty, Another Baby?
Me: Yes. (She hands me the bottle, then puts her doll in the bed.)
...Emilia: Baby tired. Goodnight Another Baby!
Me: Okay, Baby, sleep good!

Yesterday Alison came over for dinner and was playing Pooh and Piglet with Emilia while I finished cooking. Emilia kept having Piglet hide under an orange tupperware bowl and Alison pretended she couldn't see him. After like the 30th time, Alison (as Pooh, of course) finally said, "I don't know, Piglet, that bowl seems kind of sketchy." To which Emilia promptly replied, "It not sketchy. It orange!"

I think Emilia thinks she is the cranky receptionist for a company called "Pretty Day." Every time she has a play phone in her hand she puts it up to her ear and says, "Hello...Pretty Day. Goodbye."

A conversation the other day between Alison and Emilia:
Alison: Can I have a hug?
Emilia: No!
Alison: Please?
Emilia: No hugs, not hugs, owls.
Alison: No hugs?
Emilia: They owls.
Alison: So they're not hugs, they're owls?
Emilia: Yes.
Alison: Well, can I have an owl then?
Emilia then nods and runs over and gives her a hug.

busy with small things

We've had a lot happen between now and my last post, which is why I haven't done a post. I'm going to start with the most recent and go backwards.

Wednesday I was feeling particularly blah, so I called my mom. She was going to be canning salsa, and she told me to come help and then Emilia would be entertained and I wouldn't have to do it. So, I decided to go up. It was a pretty good day. While I was there, I got a phone call from a lady in the ward with a 3 year-old girl. She is in the same class as Emilia at church. They were throwing a fairy birthday party for the girl the next day and she invited us to come. I had the costume that I had made last year, but I had stolen some of the flowers off of it for other things, so I revamped it a little and added some new touches. She looked ADORABLE. See--->

A close up of her face:

Steve and I had our 4 year anniversary a couple of weeks ago. We don't have a lot of spending money right now, so we didn't do anything especial (read with a french accent), just a nice dinner and a movie. It was a fun night out, though. Thanks for babysitting Mom and Dad Watts!

At the beginning of August we had the Watts family reunion up in Logan (which we were in charge of planning). It turned out really well. We had 19 adults and children all staying in one (large) house and nobody was seriously injured or maimed even. The activities we planned were enjoyed by everyone, I think, and some of them even more than I had expected. It was a good weekend. Here is a picture of the whole group. I didn't bring a small camera, so I don't have any pictures of the activities.

I can't really remember what else has caused me to be so busy. I guess I did do a wedding the middle of August in Logan and some engagements in Ogden. Oh, and Aunt Jean and cousin Dorothy came to visit for a few days in August as well.

Other than that, I guess it's just that I'm trying to get used to doing all the housework and cooking and such since Steve is now working full time and doing school. He's been such a good husband and tries to help me whenever he has a minute.

I haven't had ANY time to be working on my book revisions, so I've been disappointed by that. Hopefully now that summer is coming to a conclusion, I'll be able to get back into a routine with it.

Hope all y'all are doing well. Love, Sabrina

More gems...

...from facebook:

My parents found this more humorous than I did: Emi woke up 2x last night. The 2nd time at 5am. I'm sleep deprived which always = cranky. For 45 min she wriggles around, not really trying to go back to sleep. So finally I just say bye and go back to my bed. I hear her get up and come to my door a few minutes later, so... I get up to put her back in bed. When she sees me, she says. "No, Mommy! This is naughty!"

A testimony to how much my daughter loves her blankie: I drove up to my parent's last night around 5. At 9:30 when I was putting Emi down, I realized that I forgot blankie. We tried substituting another blanket, singing, cuddling, to no success. At 11:30, she was still wide awake. I decided I'd have to go home to get it and to bring her with so she would fall asleep in the car. Nope. She was awake until I put blankie in her hands at 12:20 and then was asleep within minutes. Sheesh.

Emi is still a little confused on pronouns and will often call both of us you. The other day she was trying to eat cereal and was getting frustrated because there wasn't a lot making it into her mouth. So she started saying, "You feed you?" but knew that wasn't right. Finally she was just so frustrated that she yelled, "Momma, you feed my mouth!" while pointing at it. Haha. That's effective communication.

The other day, Emi and I picked up Steve from work and he put his hand on the back of my seat as we were driving. Emi (who is very possessive lately) says, "No hand, Daddy." When Steve asks why, she responds, "It's dangerous." hahaha

Some cute things Emilia has said/done lately: If she doesn't want to do something, or doesn't want me to do something, she says, "Not one drop!" (Winnie-the-Pooh fans out there will know where this comes from). She was walking around me the other day and says, "I'm just walking, okay?" (From the book Grumpy Bird. If you haven't read it you should!)

I am SO proud. My daughter made up a new sport this evening: Ewoking. So proud.

Birthday

First off, here's a link to the latest entry in the Parenting.com beautiful baby contest. I think it's the cutest one yet. Cross your fingers!

http://modelsearch.parenting.com/contests/showentry/349292

Next--Emilia turned 2! We had a double birthday party with Aunt Megan whose birthday was the week before. We swam at Nana's house, had some good food, and opened lots of presents. Emilia had a blast. A few days later, Dahmi and Grandpa Watts came over and gave her their present, which she was SO cute with. She is such a happy, talented, adorable, smart, loving, and well-behaved (for a 2-year-old) little kid. Happy birthday, my beautiful baby!

getting ready to open more presents

holding her new barbie--she calls her her princess

suited up and ready to swim!

more present opening

eating her birthday cupcakes (I made them look like Pooh and Piglet, but I forgot to take pictures, darn it!)

Dahmi and Grandpa got her an easel...

...and markers, which she wrote on her forehead with while trying to pull the cover off.She LOVED it. Can you tell?

And just some more random pictures of the cutie pants.

Playing with chalk

Playing Pooh sticks at a park in Provo. She found quite the Pooh stick.

After playing in the pool at Nana's, Emi wanted to wear her wings and "swim" the next day. That lasted about a minute. :)

This is how I often find Emi after she's fallen asleep. She sure loves her Pooh bear and blankie.

Making up for lost time

I was thinking about the title of this post after I typed it. Does that saying really make sense? Can one actually make up for lost time? If it's time and it's lost, then you can't get it back, right? If you do anything else, it takes more time, doesn't it? Just a thought to ponder.

Using the conventional meaning of the saying, though, I would like to do a huge picture post because I have been too busy to do one for a long time.

This is Emi playing the keyboard Heather and Ryan were kind enough to give us.

I was making knoephla and Emi was feeling left out.

Looking at the flowers near our house before we left Logan (yes, that's how old these pictures are!).
I heard Emilia saying, "Daddy, feet on head!" and had to go check out what she was talking about. She is one of the few people I know who could accomplish this feat. Now that's talent!


Emi eating her very first chocolate-iced donut.

Emi on the 4th of July enjoying a sugar cookie while we waited for the Thanksgiving Point fireworks to start. Did you know they moved them? Our amazing spot along the road is no longer amazing. :( But we enjoyed the fireworks anyway. Well, me, Steve, and Alison did. Emilia hated them. We had to put a movie on the laptop so she would stop crying and clinging to my neck. She didn't like the little ones we did the next night either. She kept telling me all night and through the next day, "Fireworks scary, momma. No more fireworks. All done."


I am attempting to potty train Emilia. It wasn't going so well. After 4 days she would run away screaming, "No! I too big!" whenever I asked her if she needed to go potty. So I put her back in diapers. Now she'll randomly tell me that she needs to "poop" and I'll sit her down and she'll go. I'm sure I don't understand--and never will.

Emilia helping Papa water the flowers. She helps me water my garden, too. She's a good helper.

On the 25th of June we were invited to join some moms from the ward in taking their kids to Spanish Oaks Reservoir, which is basically a small man-made lake with sand on one side and decent fishing on the other. Emi really liked sitting in her "duck," which is what she calls all round flotation devices--until it tipped over backwards. She didn't like that so much.

Emi still loves to read. LOVES to read. She's especially good at reading Pooh books.



We have a nice big back yard at our new place. There's tons of grass, a huge cement basketball court, a swing set, and a rock box (like a sandbox only with pebbles instead of sand). The landlords, who live above us, have three kids, an 8 yr old girl, a 6 yr old boy, and a 2 yr old girl. Emilia has really taken to the youngest girl and likes to go out and play when she is out. They don't really play with each other yet, but they like the idea of having someone out there with them. Anyway...the other day the oldest girl and one of her friends decided they were going to bury themselves in the rocks. We came outside for the tail end of this and Emi watched them. They got up and left and we were playing in the rocks when she asked me to bury her. She hadn't had a nap that day and was very tired, but she loved being buried in the rocks. It was pretty funny.

I was surprised she didn't get claustrophobic or something. But she didn't; maybe because she was tired. She just laid there like she was suntanning. haha

So there you have it. All the pictures from the last couple months that I was too busy or too lazy to post until now. I'm sure there are things that I've missed, but you'll just have to deal with that. :)