My Teacher

originally posted at http://captainsamuel.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-teacher.html


My teacher’s name is Sister Thorley. Not at school but at church.
She is the BEST teacher in church.At the end of class each day she gives the class gummy bears,Ring Pops,or anything that is
sweet. But one day I asked if our class could only eat healthy foods at the end of class from now on.
The first day of healthy foods Sister Thorley asked what I wanted.I said carrots I love carrots.
The next week we had carrots. Next I wanted apples.The next
week I did not get apples I got oranges Sister Thorley told me that her mom told her no.
I love my teacher!!!!

Little Treasures

originally posted at http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/03/little-treasures.html





Ok, originally I wanted to do two blog’s. One for all the family events and cute pics of my kids, and one to chronicle the ever changing job of being a mom and the thoughts and ideas I have on this subject. But, because I am busy being right in the middle of the mom job, I don’t have time and/or space in my mind to remember two blogs, so this is my mega insightful mothering thoughts/brag about my cute kids blog. This post will be a mommy thought.
One thing I say a lot is this- even on my worst day, I love being a mom. A thought occurred to me once that while I was stressed, ornery, extremely sleep deprived, tired of counting to three, and covered in stretch marks, this is exactly what I always wanted. From a young age, I knew I wanted to be a mom. I would play mommy all the time, taking care of my baby dolls and once my mom helped me make a bag of rice into a baby (it was heavy like a real baby and the crinkly noise the bag made reminded me of a diaper ). I went through a phase in my late teens where I wanted to be a business women and keep my own last name, but that was short lived. When I got married I began to pray that James and I would be able to have children, that it would come easily for us and we wouldn’t run into complications. Boy, that was one prayer that was definitely answered! The point is, I love my kids, I love being a mom, and now that they are growing up so fast I am making a real effort to treasure them and the moments I have with them. Some days when I wish they would just play by themselves so I can get something done I try really hard to think of this: someday this situation will be reversed and I will be begging them to play with me.

Avery’s Birthday

originally posted at http://mommychevon.blogspot.com/2011/02/averys-birthday.html







This will be the first post on the new blog. I have found that blogger is easier (and cuter) than wordpress, so I will be blogging here from now on. On Saturday the 19th, Avery celebrated her first birthday! This first year with her has gone by so fast! Here are all the awesome things my one year old can do: walk (she started walking at about 10 months), sign the sign’s for “more” and “thank you”, although she never signs thank you at the appropriate time, only at random times like in the bathtub, can pat her head when you ask her where her head is, roll her eyes at me, eat an entire corndog by herself, smile a lot and sometimes sleep through the night. Ok, not too impressive, but I love her! On her birthday we had pink pancakes for breakfast. We went to Maceys to get balloons and I let her have a sucker that the cashiers give to kids for the first time, because it was her birthday. That night some family came over and we had pink and white cupcakes. She got a bunch of cute new outfits and lots of attention. Savanna even put on her unicorn costume for Avery, she loves it and giggles and hugs unicorn Savanna whenever she has it on, so cute! She is a sweety and I am excited for this fun age she is entering in to. Happy Birthday Avery!

My Engagement Story

originally posted at http://melbeea.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-engagement-story.html


In order to tell the story of our engagement, I will have to first tell you the story of our first date. For those of you who don’t know, Andy and I were set up on a blind date by my Aunt Mary and Uncle Fred (more Mary).
We met on August 27th when he picked me up for our date. Andy was well prepared for our first date. He planned on going up to canyon for a picnic and walking around the falls. He even had picked up some yummy sandwiches, but I didn’t know about that then. Well, it happened to be raining that day, so he gave me the option of going to this authentic pizza place. I chose that plan since it was raining. We went to the pizza place where I ate pizza with corn on it for my first time. After dinner he started driving me back home, and then he noticed that it had stopped raining. We decided to try the canyon anyways. We went up to Canyon Glen and started walking the trail towards Bridal Veil Falls. For those of you who know me well, you know that I can easily get spooked in the dark outdoors. As we were walking it started to get dark so I kept noticing all the dark shapes ahead. Andy noticed that I had slowed down my pace a couple of times. He then said, “You think that dark bush up there is a Bear, don’t you?” I looked at him very timidly and told him yes. We then decided to turn back. We ended up talking in his car for awhile…..away from the rain that had returned. Then he took me back home.
Now that you know about that date, I can tell you about last night’s date (February 10th).
Andy picked me up and hinted that I needed to be dressed warm. He even bought us matching beanies. On the drive he made me put both beanies on and over my eyes, so I could not see. However, I have a good sense of directions, and I was pretty sure we were driving up the canyon. When we parked he got out, and told me he would be just a minute. He left me blindfolded in a car for about 10 songs. Thankfully, he left the car running and music on. Then he led me down an icy path to a camp-chair next to a fire. He had been building a fire and putting together our sandwiches while I was sitting in the car. We ate the sandwiches and fed a stray cat. This was just the first part of the date. Here is a picture of us trying to stay warm…

After we ate he walked me back to the car, and then he cleaned up our stuff. Then he blindfolded me again and drove for a couple more minutes. We got out, and he asked me what I could hear. I told him that I could hear water from the river. That wasn’t correct, so he asked me what water a part of our first date. I told him rain, so he had to clarify that it was water that we actually didn’t get to see. As I guessed Bridal Veil Falls he pulled off my beanie/blindfold, and I saw that we were on an illegal pullout across from Bridal Veil Falls. The snowy mountain was beautiful. Andy then turned me around, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. He said, “Will you marry me, Melissa? Now that I finally got our first date to work, I want to work on making everything else work in our lives.” I leaned over and said, “Of course I will. Yes!” Then I kissed him. He pulled out the ring, which I couldn’t really see in the dark, and said that he hoped I was right about my ring measurement (4 1/2). I wasn’t, but I told him to just shove it on so he did. He then got a flashlight so I could see it. After taking a few pictures we drove back to my place, and I started announcing to the world that I am engaged to an amazing man! I look forward to spending the rest of my life and eternity with Andy. He makes me happier than I ever could imagine! I look forward to being Melissa Bayless!


He is also really good at picking out gorgeous rings!

Any quotes above are probably not word for word because I am horrible at remembering exactly what is said. The gist is still there.

Jonathan’s Science Fair Project

originally posted at http://myfoibles.com/?p=593


Jonathan entered the science fair in his school on February 2nd.  He did an amazing job with his project.  He proved that not only an Idaho potato could power a clock, but also a red potato and a sweet potato could as well.  He peeled them all and it still powered the clock.  Then he cooked them all, and it still powered the clock.  Then we made mashed potatoes…and it STILL powered the clock.  Jonathan and I had a good time and we laughed that the mashed potatoes worked.  Then we called Uncle Andy who explained to us why our experiment worked.  Jonathan learned that the potato needed water and could not power the clock without it.  Thus, dried potato flakes would not power the clock.  Jonathan did an excellent job explaining the process to the three judges that visited his project and could tell them all about the acid inside the potato.  I was very proud of him.

A big shout out to all of my sixth graders who did an excellent job on their projects as well.  Thanks for always making me feel needed and happy.

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You’d never know it….

originally posted at http://baylessnews.blogspot.com/2011/01/youd-never-know-it.html


but one of my new year’s resolutions is to keep up on this blog. Thankfully I have other resolutions that are experiencing some success or I’d really feel like a failure. Christmas was great by the way. Sam is seven now and Benjamin is a sunbeam. Baby brother is approaching 6 months gestation and Jordan will have a birthday on the 31st. Stay tuned for other earth shattering news because our life is just exciting like that.

It’s been awhile!

originally posted at http://chevon.baylessfamily.org/?p=334


It’s been a little while since my last post so I am just going to update a little bit. Our family had a great Christmas but I was not on top of things and didn’t get any pictures, so I will just leave it at that, Christmas was great! We also had a fun New Years’ Eve spending the night with some good friends, also no pictures! Avery has starting walking and looks so cute and little toddling around the house all day. Last night we celebrated Savanna’s 5th birthday! We had family over and ate home made pizza and store bought cake and ice cream. Savanna helped decorate the whole house and she was so excited to have a party. When it was time to open presents she asked me if she could open the first one. I told her she got to open all of them because it was her birthday. Each time after opening a present she asked me if any of the other presents were hers, I kept having to explain to her that all the presents were in fact for her. It was cute, I guess some confusion comes with having your birthday so close to Christmas. I did get some pictures of the birthday girl!

Here are some random pictures, including the kids holding the giant icicle that grew on the front of our house and James’ football thumb.

Necklace Organizer

originally posted at http://melbeea.blogspot.com/2011/01/necklace-organizer.html


Over Christmas break, my sister and I were looking at ways to make necklace organizers. We were looking for her, but once I saw some ideas, I wanted to make one too. I forgot to take pictures along the way, but I will still explain how to make one.
You will need a plaque or a piece of wood, paint, scrapbook paper, mod podge, ribbon, door knobs, a drill and a seesaw hook. Paint the wood, and then mod podge an assortment of scrapbook paper on the front. After it all dries, you can mod podge some ribbon around the edges or even between the different paper. Then you will want to decide where you want your door knobs placed. Drill the holes, and then screw in the door knobs. You will also want to attach a seesaw hook to the back, so that you can hang it on the wall.

Andy actually helped me with this craft. He picked out the ribbon, provided the drill, and drilled the holes for me. I did drill a couple of holes, but he is the one that really did it. Then we put in the door knobs together.


Here it is when it was first completed.

Now, this is what it looks like on my bathroom wall. It coordinates perfectly with the shower curtain and towels!
This was such a fun and easy project! Trish, too bad we didn’t get to do our projects together, but I think it is cool that we both still did them.

Me and the Kiddos

originally posted at http://myfoibles.com/?p=585


These pictures were taken back when it was actually warm.  I found them recently and thought that I should post them.  I miss seeing our grass.

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Quick link to a surprising video…

originally posted at http://shovelfu.com/node/1060


Just saw this cool little video on what happens when a blind folded person tries to walk in a straight line. Surprised me and it is fun to watch.

 

Check it out.