A New Year...A New Me?

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! We sure did! We got to go up to Utah for a few days (we decided that we much prefer the "less wet" weather here in NM), and stayed with Derrick's parents. Shonnie (D's mom) is one of those women who TOTALLY decorates for Christmas! It was so much fun to be in her home and see all of her fun decorations. I have no idea where she gets the drive to do it all! What a BIG job!

Cecily had so much fun seeing all of her cousins while we were in town. I think she gets a little bit lonesome when she is at home alone with me. She got spoiled rotten for Christmas, but hey, she was a REALLY good girl this year---at least her grandparents and Santa sure thought so! :)

As 2008 gets closer, I've been thinking a lot lately about what my New Year's Resolutions will be. I'm going to post them, and maybe that will give me more of an inclination to actually accomplish them!!

1. Become more disciplined. I don't know if it has just been this pregnancy, or what, but I have been noticing lately that I haven't been accomplishing as many things as I'd like to be, so I have been evaluating how I spend my time and see that I can make a lot of changes that will help me to be more productive. But I need to really discipline myself to follow through, so that is why I have chosen this as a resolution.
2. Get back in shape within 6 months of having the baby. Yes, of course this one is on my list! I hope to do it faster than 6 months, but I'm being realistic. If I end up with a broken tail bone again (yes, Cecily broke my tail bone when I gave birth to her! That was a REALLY fun recovery...very slow), it will be a while before I can function, let alone sit, properly! Anyway, my beloved bloggers had better call me on this one! I'm tired of being a fatty!
3. Increase my knowledge of the Gospel. This last year, as we have read scriptures together as a family, I have really learned a lot and my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has really grown. However, I have realized that I don't know some details as well as I would like. So I have decided that this is something I want to work on this year, so that I can be more confident in my knowledge of the Gospel.

So that's it! If you have any tips on what works for you in any of these subjects, I'd love to hear them. Also, I'd love to hear what YOUR resolutions are! So SHARE!!

Hide and Go Seek

The other day, we received a loaf of yummy banana bread from someone who knows Derrick from the restaurant. Anyway, I cut a piece for Cecily while we were eating lunch there at Costa Vida and she really liked it. Then I put the loaf in my purse to take home. Well, when Derrick asked for it later, I couldn't find it. I figured it must have fallen out of my purse into the car or something, but I totally forgot about it after that. A couple of days later, it was really quiet at home, so I went to go look for Cecily...

She loves to hide from me. She is really good at being very quiet until I find her. Among her favorite hiding spots: The back of her closet and inside boxes. Well, she has a new hiding spot. This is the spot she reserves for doing "bad deeds," I have decided. I found her in her room hiding in the corner behind her art easel, between her rocking chair and toy chest. She had 2 pairs of scissors back there with her and she was trying to open a bag of shoes I had bought for the baby. Guess what else was back there with her? THE BANANA BREAD!

You could tell she had used the scissors to get the bag open, and it was about 1/3 eaten. I can't tell if she had used her mouth or her hand to break the pieces of bread off, but it was in pretty sad condition. I wish now that I had taken a picture, but I was seriously in hysterics laughing because it was so pathetic to see! Anyway, as I was cleaning up the mess, I also found gum and candy wrappers, among other things Cecily knows she only gets if she's lucky. So...yes, she is definitely growing up, and she's definitely not the "perfect" child I have always thought she was. And YES, I still love her to pieces!

Holy Terror in the Target Parking Lot!

Well, after looking at some of Cecily's "precious" little baby pictures, I have found what I was looking for. The clue that would let me know that my perfect little baby girl was not going to be perfect forever. Take a look:

Do you see her flipping me off? I should have known that there would be a day like today coming. Want to hear about it?

We have been going through the transition of Cecily taking naps on some days but not on others. Today was one of the days she didn't take a nap, so she was tired, I'll give her that. We went to Target, and in the checkout line, she spots a Yo-Yo that she decides she MUST HAVE! Mean old me won't let her have it, since she already has a yo-yo at home. (She also has about 4 things of bubbles that I have broken down and bought for her when she asked for them while in the check-out line on other days). Then the crying starts...And the pleading...(how do you say "no" to such a cute little girl when she uses her manners?) But, alas, I stick to my guns and don't buy her the yo-yo. And then the hysterics start. I have never had an experience with Cecily crying where people looked at me like that. Yet, I know that some of them had to understand the situation. Haven't they ever had children? So we're walking out and of course the alarm goes off at the door. I look back and the worker says, "just go" and waves me out. I guess they'd rather I steal something than have to listen to my child's screams! Then we get to the car and that's where the real fun begins. It honestly took me over 10 minutes to get Cecily strapped into her carseat. You know the whole arching of the back thing that kids like to do so that you can't get them in their seat? Imagine a really fat, wimpy pregnant woman trying to battle that!! And I don't have much room because I'm parked too close to the cart return and I don't want to dent my car door while struggling with my crazed child. So I leave her in the car (her screams for the yo-yo louder than ever) and go around to the other side of the car so I can get in. She continues to fight me until, finally, I give up and start crying myself.

And then she let me hold her. And we cried until she calmed down. All this over a yo-yo.

Okay, so she was terrible today. But guess what? I still love that kid to pieces and think she's the coolest thing ever! Am I nuts? Oh well if I am!

We got a new computer this week (thank you Derrick)! It's an Apple, so hopefully, I won't have any more trouble with stupid viruses causing me to lose all of my data. Anyway, the REAL reason I was looking at some of Cecily's baby pictures was because I was transferring them onto this computer. And I just have to show off this cute little girl! I cannot believe how big she has gotten!

It's Christmastime!!

We decorated our Christmas Tree for Family Home Evening last Monday. Cecily had a ball! However, mom and dad did have to do a bit of "de-clumping" after Cecily went to sleep. She really loved the job of placing the ornaments, but thought they looked best in just one certain area of the tree.

I bought new ornaments this year to go with our new bigger tree (I love Costco! I even drove it all the way from the Lehi Costco down to NM. Totally worth it)! I decided to go with a brown and gold theme. Here's the Finished Product (thanks to Derrick---because I have no skill at decorating a tree, and he gets his talent from his mom):

The pictures don't really do it justice, I think. There's nothing better than sitting in a dark room with your family with just the tree lit up. It makes me feel like a little kid!

Some Pix of our Cool Kid

I can just imagine the cavities growing...Getting all clean...

Yep, there WAS a cute little girl there under all that sticky candy!

This picture is actually for my mom. I've been meaning to show her the new rug I bought for our dining table (yes we are SLOWLY, but surely decorating our house). It was interesting how much a rug made this room so much more cozy. And we even got it on sale!!

Primary Ideas?

Hi Everyone,

I'm getting together with the rest of the Primary Presidency in my ward to brainstorm ideas for next year, and wanted to get feedback from you about anything that has worked out successfully in your wards.

*Activities

*Primary Room Decorations (our ward is in charge this year)

*Goals and Incentives (this year, all the kids who memorized the Articles of Faith got to have a popcorn party)

*Ideas to spotlight the children

Let me know some of your ideas!! Come on, don't be shy! And Thank You in advance!

What do YOU think?

Derrick and I are battling it out over what we are going to name this precious baby girl who's on her way, so we decided to enlist your help. We definitely like Ainsley, and we definitely like Earis (pronounced "Air"-iss). Here's the dilemma: Earis is Derrick's Great-Grandma's name, so we want to spell it the way she did. However, I am having issues with the fact that it looks like you would pronounce it "Ear"-iss. So I would much rather it be a middle name. Ainsley Earis Tornow. Fantastic, right? But Derrick prefers Earis Ainsley Tornow (BE SURE TO PRONOUNCE IT RIGHT!). We really do like both names, but I am just having this little issue. So how about you all let us know what you think? Would you go with Earis or Ainsley for the first name? Do you hate both names? Do you have any other suggestions? Who knows, this baby could come out looking like a Laquisha, so nothing is set in stone. But we'd like to at least have an idea of what we might call this kid!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (a little late!)

I'm finally getting around to posting our Halloween pictures. Derrick and I dressed up this year because our friends, Nate & Sharon Allen had their first annual Alleween Halloween Party. We had a lot of fun. Let me know if you have a hard time guessing who we dressed up as (please ignore that fat pregnant belly of mine...as well as all the other chubby parts I wish I didn't have!):

Derrick won first prize for "best individual guy costume" and I won first place for "best individual girl costume"

On Halloween night, we went to our ward's Trunk-or-TreatAll tuckered out after a night full of excitement and sugar!If you look closely, you will see that she still has a sucker in her mouth. Is she not the cutest Raggedy Ann ever?

Is this a "Black Tie" Event?

I was just showing Cecily the pictures of her baby sister's ultrasound and I asked her what she thought. She answered: "Cute Dress."

And this is all I'm going to say...

Darn that Stephenie Meyer for writing the Twilight series, and darn that Shar Allen for making me start the first book!!!!! (Those posts I've been meaning to write are just going to have to wait a bit longer...)

SHOCKER!!

Um, so I was totally planning on this baby being a boy...

...but as you can see, that isn't the case. Yep! WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!

Hooray!!!! I have to admit, I'm really excited! For the last couple of weeks when I have thought about this baby as a boy, I have gotten a little sad. Well, duh! That's because it's totally a girl! We had a hard time getting very good pictures because she kept putting her hand to her face. I am so curious what she will look like!! I guess we'll see around March 8th!

So Much to Post!

I have a ton of things I need to post about, but not a lot of time. So if you are interested in hearing about it all, just keep checking my blog these next couple of days, because I plan to write a few posts as I have the time.
So the biggest thing in our life right now has been the restaurant. We had our VIP night on Saturday, October 20th, and it went very well. We sent out invitations

to friends and family in the area, as well as people we felt would help get the word out such as dentists, doctors, city council members, newspaper people, etc. We had a great turnout, and can I just say (yet again) that I LOVE the people in Farmington? They are so supportive and just cool people! We have felt very fortunate to have many of our workers. They have really caught on, and get better each day. We opened our doors to several people who just happened to come by in the couple of days prior to VIP night, and they were able to get a free meal. This helped our workers train and practice making the different dishes. I have to admit it was fun to watch the people get to the register and realize that they didn't have to pay for their meal!

The restaurant really turned out looking beautiful. I don't know that these pictures really do it justice, but hopefully you can get the idea:

We officially opened for business on October 22nd. We totally blew away Costa Vida's record for first day and first week numbers. Derrick had made a goal of reaching a specific number, which if we are honest, we didn't think would be possible to reach. But guess what? We totally did it!! It was a real treat after all of the hard work Derrick and so many people have put into this project.

So now, we (and by that, I mean Derrick. He's the one doing all the work. Not me!) are trying to continue progressing so that all of the employees are up to speed and know their jobs. We have been particularly grateful to have Mike, our manager, on the team. Things seriously would not have gone as smoothly as they have, had we not had him around. I hope that we can continue to make it worthwhile for him to work with us, because we really want him to stay around! Costa Vida has been really great to work with as well. They have sent down a lot of people from corporate who helped with the opening and training our employees. We have been really glad that we went with this franchise.

I want Derrick to know how impressed I have been with him during this process. It has been so rewarding to me to see him enjoy this work. Although there have been MANY hangups and headaches, he has been so happy, and he has handled it all so well, without making me feel guilty that I'm at home doing the fun task of taking care of our darling girl. I am so glad he is supportive of my wish to be at home with Cecily, and that this is where he wants me to be. Cecily and I love him SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!! Thanks Daddy, and Good Job with the new restaurant!

And the game goes on and on and on....

I got tagged by Tiffany and Karen yesterday. And the funny thing is it was the same tag game! (I don't think they even know each other)! I have to list 6 facts/habits about myself and pass the tag on to 6 of you.

1. I love a good bubble bath.

2. I love to eat at good restaurants. Our vacations are often planned around what restaurants we are going to try out! I love everything about it. Trying new dishes, rating the service, people watching, the ambiance, everything!

3. I HATE to touch cardboard.

4. If I wasn't a mom, I would want to be a professional traveller. (Is that a REAL profession?)

5. I LOVE real estate. I love to look at it, buy it, sell it, fix it up, rent it out, live in it...you get the picture.

6. I want to be more disciplined (yes, here I am sitting at the computer when I SHOULD be cleaning my house).

I tag...Becky Johnson, Brenda Hickman, Kim Smith, Megan Dehart, Natalie Tingey, & Valli Nield

Let the Restaurant Open!

Here's the update from my last post: In Derrick's words, the meeting with the City Council went "fine." They are going to let us keep our temporary certificate of occupancy, and as soon as slats are installed in the chain link fence on the property (which was already going to be done), we get our permanent certificate. Derrick sounded pretty emotionally drained, but we are pleased that we will be able to continue moving forward. It appeared that everyone was on our side except the one council member who has made an issue out of all of this, and that is encouraging. So we will go ahead and continue training our employees, have our VIP night on Saturday, and open for business on Monday! HOORAY!!!!!

AAAAARRRRGGHHH!!!!!!

So I am a nervous wreck! I'm just puttering around the house, praying, and being nervous. Derrick is currently at a meeting with the City Council, and they are deciding if they are going to let us open the restaurant. HU? Yeah, that's right. We got a permit from the city months ago and have been working like crazy to get this restaurant open. Then, just three or four weeks before we open, the owner of Quizno's, with whom we share a parking lot, has decided that there isn't enough parking for our restaurant. First of all (and I wish I had started writing about this when it all came about because there are so many fun details---but I'll give you the summary), if you were to come and look at the parking lot at any time of day, you would see that THERE IS NO PARKING ISSUE!!! However, after working with the city planning and zoning department, the owner of the buildings has had the parking lot restriped to provide more than enough parking. But does that make the Quizno's guy happy? NO! He got himself invited to a city council meeting, gave them his side of the story, and one of the members of the council has decided she wants to make an issue out of this. So now everyone's lawyers are involved and are currently at a meeting as we speak. (By the way, if you want to read one of the news articles about this whole deal, here's the link: http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_7143018)

Anyway, I really feel pretty good that this will all work out, but I'm still nervous. I know that either way, Heavenly Father wants us here. So there will be no regrets there. But I want Derrick to know how impressed I have been with him during this whole process. He has really tried to be a good, honest person, so I hope that those who will be making the decision will realize how much we are trying to contribute to the community. I am also thankful for all of the wonderful people there are here in this community, as well as back in Utah, who have shown their support for us.

So, I will just continue puttering around the house until I get a call from Derrick....I'll let you know how it goes!

Extreme Makeover!

A couple of months ago, Derrick flew to Dallas and drove 12 hours back in our fabulous new restaurant catering van he purchased there. We had an awesome company from Denver (Big Dog Wraps) come down and put a wrap on the van. Check out this "extreme makeover!"

From KIDNAPPER VAN...

...To El COCHE FANTASTICO!

Just a Reminder...

Yep, she's cute.

Yet another sleeping picture.

Our little surfer girl.

Sick with the flu at grandma's house.

Hanging out in Durango, Co with the cousins.

Our Visit to the Park.

Stopping to smell the Flowers.

What a Big Girl!

Just Monkeying around.

On Top of the BIG Slide.

At the Bottom of the BIG Slide.

Taking care of her Baby (yes, I realize her PJ's are too small).

We LOVE This Girl!!