The end of Turkey Day..

Well it is the end of Thanksgiving and I was looking through some videos I have, and I have decided to put them on because they make me smile... which in turn makes me want to let all of you know, "I am sooo grateful for my beautiful baby girl, that makes me laugh every single day... I am also grateful for Isaiah.. his wise mind.. I feel like I am talking to someone my age sometimes! He said to me, "Mom I think you look really pretty without make up on."... ya I love that kid, even though sometimes I am tempted to slip the kid a xanax, ha ha (it's a joke people)..
And last but not least, my better half- Jake. Man, if it wasn't for him, I think I might go to an insane asylum:) He knows when to come and rescue when he needs to.. He is an amazing father to our children that just adore him.. I LOVE MY FAMILY... I love where we live, and I am grateful for my health.. it's been scary in the past and right now things seem better and that makes me happy.. and very very very thankful for my family's health, and I am grateful that I am in a position where I can be home with my children (even though sometimes I just want to lock myself in the basement for hours-- ha) and spend time with them and watch them grow up.. My life is good and I wouldn't trade it for anything... maybe 1 million dollars but we'd have to see:)) And I can't forget my great friends that bring so many different things in my world... they help me get through the day to day "stuff"- I love you guys.. I couldn't get by without you.. Now here is a funny few videos of my Londy's making mama laugh...
The first video is London telling me NO NO by shaking her head... then the other video is of her in her FAVORITE place, the bath... this kinda shows ya her personality...

Visit from Denver..

I've been meaning to post these few pictures for a while now.. A few weeks ago we had Jake's friend, Michael and his girlfriend Jill out visiting from Denver. We had a few fun nights with them. I am sure we scared them away from having kids. I just know they were thinking, "just another mormon family with a million kids.." .. We took them to some fights, took them to Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon for brunch, then that night we took them to eat at The Roof that night.. Here is just a few pictues..

Transition!

So we are in the middle of transition from Bippity Boppity Bows and Things to My Simplicity Boutique. Just FYI. I will keep all you guys posted on the new website address as it all gets changed! Thanks for all your support and suggestions!!

Are you kidding me? HELP ME OUT.

First of all, I am dealing with so much crap about this bow stuff. I was lucky enough to pick the ONE name (Bippity Boppity Bows) where some lady in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma will do anything to get me out of business. She has the trademark so in order to dodge any legalities.. I need your help!!! Do you guys have any fun ideas for names that would be SUPER different?? Also, when I do change it completely, will you guys PLEASE forward it on and not get annoyed with me changing it so many times?? ha. I promise this will be the LAST time...
So help a sister out and get creative!!!

A few updates...

Nothing too out of the norm for this week.. it seems as I look back to my previous week, that I didn't get anything done. All I remember is taking care of kids every second of every day. I can't keep on top of the housework.. I can't do extra fun activities for anyone or for the kids.. I just do the minimal and I am depleted by the end of the week. I don't know how stay at home mom's do it.. or for that matter, working mom's. I BARELY get the laundry done and put away in 5 days! I consider it a very good day if I get some type of meal prepared in the evenings..
Jake is always SO busy with working and doing extra work to stay on top of his game.. then he has school and now he is trying to get back in shape so he has been working out like crazy. It is really sad because the only time he has with us is an hour or so in the mornings.. then he is off for another LONG day.. and I don't see him until I am in bed that night. I know he is completely depleted by the end of the week as well.
The past two weeks, Jake has really gone out of his way to help me. Without me asking, he took Isaiah to go get a haircut and cleaned the cars and then has been grocery shopping for our family for that week. I know what a task grocery shopping is, so I am SO grateful for him doing that. He walks in with just TONS of bags of groceries and I know we are set for the week. What I love about it too is that he is a picky eater, so if he is the one doing the shopping, he knows what is there and he will eat what he obviously bought. It makes my life SO much easier! It made my day yesterday:) And he is starting to cook more... and not just cook, but cook healthier for all of us. We have really started to change what we all eat..
Isaiah is still super active and is STILL Batman even though Halloween is over. He is constantly jumping off couches and beds- like he is flying... waking everyone up. He loves his sister more than anything in this world. He has to know where she is at every minute and he cries when I put her down for a nap.. EVERY TIME.
London is getting so big.. she is super long. She says Dada.. and will not say mama. When I tell her to say mama, she just laughs. Her very favorite thing is the bath. If she is in a bad mood, all I have to do is start the bath water up and she starts kicking and laughing... I wish I could leave her in there all day! Her sleeping has been really bad lately, so I talked to a few other mom's and decided it was time to let her "cry it out" -- she was so used to me going right in and comforting her and feeding her back to sleep, where it became a bad habit... more like a bad habit every 3 hours! So I was a intimidated of the crying it out thing with her, cause what mom likes to hear their baby crying for you and you can't do anything to stop it? Plus I didn't want Isaiah and Jake to be effected... so I put her in our "finished" basement (I say that so you don't think I put her in a cold dungeon) and put her nightlight down there with her sound machine and made it really cozy for her... and the first night I was expecting to hear her scream all night. To my surprise, she slept through the night... the next day instead of taking 1 hours naps, she was taking 3 hours naps! So the past few nights she has slept right through the night. She must like that "dungeon"-- so I will be keeping her there for a little bit:) I sleep on the couch on the next level up.. so my nights aren't super comfortable, but at least I get more sleep right?
Jake decided to be his sweet self and buy Twilight tickets for us last week to go on Friday. So we were able to have a date night and go to that movie. I know that wasn't his movie of choice, but he went with a smile on his face...:) We went all the way out to the District.. k that is all the way out in the middle of nowhere.. but dang, that place is nice. It has just about everything you could ever want or need there. Jake is trying to convince me to move out there... anyway.. it turned out to be a good weekend.. besides the fact that my dad was cussing all night at BYU and kept taking his anger out on me:)
Sorry I am a little winded this morning... but now my journal time is done and I've got to get back to my Batman and "Sleeping Beauty"-

So proud of our buzzy..

We are so impressed. One day Isaiah came home from preschool and said the whole Pledge of Allegiance. He has such a great school and we are so grateful for his teachers.. (hint hint, Miss Megan). As you can notice at the beginning, he got mad at Jake for not helping him start out..

In case you didn't see...

I am having a little fun contest on my bow blog... anyone interested, go over there and post! If you know anyone that would be interested, send the link to them...

www.bippityboppitybowsandthings.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Kreativ Blogger Award

My friend Lara nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award. Lara, I do not even compare to you woman! You are my example in SO many ways.. You always have a way of making my day better when we talk. I miss talking to you. I am totally thrilled. This is my ONE time to shine:) ha ha. The one and only thing that shows my hard work daily sitting on my butt at home:) Here are the 6 things I love...

1. My fam. Of course this would be the first thing that comes to mind. I love my family. They are what make me tick.

2. My computer (and phone).. how sad is this? I can't go without it by my side... it's my best friend.

3. My home.. It isn't huge and it isn't what I would absolutely choose to be in. But I love it. It fits us just perfectly and I'm comfortable here.

4. My health.. I've realized over a few years that living a good life comes with good health. They go hand in hand. It's so important to take care of our bodies and feel good.. I love to work out. It helps my attitude for the day that much better.

6. My friends.. I'm lucky I have the friends that I have. Each and every one of them bring something to my life that I need.

So now my nominee's. Drum roll please....(These are in no particular order)

1. Jen~ Of course i had to put her on this nominee list. I go to her for every question I have about the Internet or anything else for that matter. Thank you for being the sister close to my age I never had!

2. Nicole~ Nicole is my cousins wife. I am so glad she has a blog. I really look up to her strength with taking care of her children, moving away from her family, and putting every bit of energy into her new son that is struggling with his health. Her attitude is always so uplifting and real.

3.Amanda ~ This is my "cousin" (ha ha). You would think we have known each other for years. I have to talk to this girl every day.. She is always happy every single time I talk to her and on top of that.. she has the CUTEST family. We have good talks and I'm excited to see her today..:)

Devastated!

Lipstick Jungle is NO LONGER after this season... I'm speechless.

Birthday:) **warning lots of pictures**

So on Sunday we celebrated Jake's 29th birthday.. I am blown away that he only has one more year and then it is the big 30! We hope he had a good day.. here are a few pictures of that night with our family and friends..

AND A STUPID VIDEO OF MY FAMILY JAMMIN OUT... complete nerds:)

Rock Band with the Martin's:)

A true friendship..

I really feel so lucky to be the mother of these two most precious angels. I can't tell you how many times a day there is a moment where I stop and think, I can't believe you are my child..you are so perfect! I told my friend Jen that I can't get stuff done in the day and I realized that a good portion of the day I break up what I am doing and start kissing my kids and tickling them...it really gets me unfocused!! But hey that is a good way to waste your day, right? One thing I have mentioned a few times in my blog posts is that Isaiah and London are best friends... but when I say best friends, I really mean it. Here are a few pictures to prove it... nothing makes me happier than watching these two love each other as much as they do.

Isaiah fell asleep in the back while holding her hand...

Happy 28th Birthday Annie!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful friend, Annie!! Just as your mom said in her letter, it is hard to think of you as 28 years old! However, I know we would still be great friends struggling daily to get through life! You wouldn’t look any older.. you would still look youthful and full of life. I have no doubt of that.
There isn’t ONE day I don’t think of you. I have that picture by Greg Olsen called, Heavenly Hands in my house. How can I look at that and not think that you are still right with me? I also still have the Small Miracles book you gave me sitting under my bed with your handwriting that says, “I’ll never forget you.” Gives me chills every time I see it! When your mom asked to write A memory.. I couldn’t even just think of ONE. We have so many special memories that I have replayed in my head time and time again. How I wish I could revisit them and have you here.. I run into Keri all the time and every single time I see her, I automatically see you and it takes me a minute to focus and get back in reality. So much has come and gone since you left us.. so many things have changed. Good and bad. Sometimes I think how lucky you are and other times I think how unfair it is that you haven’t been able to experience more to your adult life.
You brought a lot of excitement to my life. We definitely knew how to “raise hell” When I was too “down” to go do anything, you brought the party to me. We had the type of friendship that was unconditional. We went through a lot together. When Zack passed away… I remember driving for hours and hours and hours all over the Salt Lake Valley while you cried and listened to music (Boyz II Men). I also remember when Curtis passed away, you immediately showed up at my work and we did the same thing. We experienced a lot of pain and heartache together.. I never thought I would have to go through it again without you, because of you. I remember doing school projects in your basement listening to Spice Girls.. we knew every song on that album! Ha. We also went and bought Lenny Kravitz and we didn’t have enough money to buy it each ourselves, so we decided to buy all the cd’s we wanted together and just share them since we were together all the time. I think you had Lenny Kravitz when you left us and I never got it back!! Remember when we were going out with the older boys and you were walking to the car and your heel broke off of your shoe?? Ha ha. I’ll never forget when I “ran away” from home and came to live with you. I didn’t have a car, so we shared yours and I had to take you to work (Pagers Plus) and I didn’t know how to drive stick shift yet! I was a mess… and that lasted only like 4 days. And I can’t ever go to the store and buy the Extra peppermint gum without thinking of you… you never left home without 10 packages of that at least! And how can we ever forget about the “slept overs” ? Even you Linda… you know all about our slept overs!

I love you so much and miss you. It never changes no matter how many days, months, years go by. You have left a huge print in my heart and soul that can never be replaced or filled!

You will always be considered my best friend. I CANNOT wait for the day to see your happy smiling face again, giving me a HUGE hug like you always did!

Always and Forever,
As you would refer to me… “Manty”
Mandy Alvey Martin

Random pictures of the weekend

We dressed little London up in my nieces old ballet costume with one of my bows:) She looked SO cute!
Look at those eyes... how dark are they??

Jake was in heaven, pure heaven when BOTH kids fell asleep on him on Friday. He wouldn't move a muscle for an hour! So I had to take a few pictures because this NEVER happens. I thought it was sweet picture.. he was holding her feet in his hand all intertwined. I loved it.

Gives you an idea of how big Jake's hands are!

This picture made me SO jealous.... it can't get any sweeter than that!

LOTS of pictures..

Halloween '08 was a success! We had one very real Batman and one very beautiful Snow White came from this house. They were able to go to some really fun spooky houses and then have a party with my family after. After all the kids were finally to sleep, we had some friends over to our house so the party didn't stop for quite sometime:) Yesss, we are all very tired right now!