Deep In the Heart of Texas

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T12:11:00.001-05:00

I watched "God Grew Tired of Us" on Netflix last night and I was touched by the heartbreaking and inspiring stories. We are so spoiled here in America!

I want to make more of a difference in other people's lives so I have made 2 goals this Memorial Day:

1) Complain less, work more

2) Want less, serve more

I hope that when I look back on my life, I can say that the people that fought for my freedoms did not do so in vain. I am so grateful for my MANY blessings!

Just Call Me Fluffy

2011-04-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

Selina assigned me the name "Fluffy" today while we were playing house. Her name was "Diamond." Did I mention how much she keeps me laughing?

Selina Quotes of the Day

2011-03-17T20:51:00.000-05:00

Selina just keeps me laughing, so I wanted to document some of the funny things she said today.

On the way to the grocery store:

Selina: "Are you sure you want to do this?" (this is a new phrase of hers)
Me: (Confused) "Yes, why do you ask?"
Selina: "It would be a lot easier if you had Dad's help." (as if I don't do it on my own most days of the week)

Maybe she could see into the future because today at the grocery store I was one of THOSE moms, you know...the kind who's kids run amuck through the store. I was in the freezer aisle when I got a call that I HAD to take, meanwhile Selina is playing "hopscotch" on the floor tiles and Chloe kept running away from me. I know, just terrible. As soon as I was off the phone I picked Chloe up and carried her sideways under my arm straight to the checkout aisle. I am sure it was quite the sight.

Another quote from the same car ride:

Selina: "Mom, I miss Dad...I love him the best. I love you too, I just love Dad the best."

Wow! If I didn't laugh so hard, I'd be crying.

My Next Project

2011-03-12T23:50:00.001-06:00

I feel a sewing project coming on! This is a "Nevernude" costume, apparently inspired by the show "Arrested Development", which I have never seen but may need to watch now. I ran across this ingenious thing here.

Chloe's Pacifier

2011-03-08T00:06:00.002-06:00

Tonight I got this clip of Chloe showing off one of her many talents. I thought she would start to get mad at me after the first couple of times, but no, she kept on going. I think it is quite entertaining!

My Tornado

2011-02-01T12:56:00.001-06:00

Chloe has become my 16 month old tornado! If there is a way to make a mess, she will find it.

I came across this blog post today and thought I would share it. I know I've talked about this before, but it's a good reminder to lighten up a bit. Messes are OK sometimes, and someday I will miss this time of life.

I took these a few months ago after Jeff got a package and I let the girls play in the peanuts. It was a huge mess to clean up and Chloe kept trying to eat them, but what a fun memory!

Big Changes

2010-12-02T10:47:00.001-06:00

Right before we left for our trip to Boston, we found out that we are being transferred to Hartford, CT with Jeff's company. We are excited for this move. It is a good step for Jeff's career and it brings us closer to some of our family. We will be 3 hours from my sister Mary and her family, and we will be 1 1/2 hours from my brother Michael and his wife, Nicky. Of course with all of the excitement comes sadness as we close this chapter of our lives. It will be hard to leave the great friends that have become our Texas family. It is bitter-sweet but we feel that it is the right move for us.

We don't know the date that we will be moving yet but Jeff has to report to the Hartford office on January 4th, so we will be moving in the next few weeks, maybe before Christmas even. I thought that we would have a couple of months to prepare for a transfer, but they need him now. So off to Connecticut we go.

Mikey is Hitched!

2010-12-02T10:14:00.000-06:00

We just got back from a wonderful trip to New England for my brother Michael's wedding. They were married in the Boston temple and it was beautiful. I will add some pictures of the great day soon, but for now here is an engagement picture of the happy couple.

I am so happy for these two!

Chloe Turned One!

2010-09-08T21:19:00.002-05:00

I can't believe my baby is 1! Here are some pictures from our little family party.

Happy Girl

Gimme Gimme!

Just as suspected, Chloe LOVED the cake

Blowing bubbles in approval

Yummy!

Chloe continues to be such a sweet girl and we are so happy that she is a part of our family!

My Etsy Shop

2010-06-09T11:00:00.001-05:00

I opened an Etsy shop a year and a half ago but I wasn't able to put anything in it until now. There is lots more to come!

www.simplegestures.etsy.com

A Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-10T09:08:00.000-05:00

I got Selina to sing her rendition of "I am a child of God" on camera for me today. It's kinda long, but I thought grandparents and others might enjoy watching.

.....................................................................................

When I was getting Chloe ready for bed tonight, her dress got stuck on her head and Selina and I had quite the laugh. I just had to get a couple of pictures of her (does that make me a mean mom?).

I got a couple of cute ones of the girls as well:

Love those dimples!!!

This Woman is So Amazing

2010-05-04T15:47:00.008-05:00

I just had to share this:

My Funny Girl

2009-12-22T23:02:00.002-06:00

Yesterday while sitting on the floor playing with blocks:

Me to Selina: "My foot's falling asleep" (I adjust my position)

A few minutes later: (Selina stands up and sighs) "My foot's falling asleep, I think it's trying to take a nap...Yeah, my foot is trying to take a nap."

My Babies

2009-12-08T22:19:00.003-06:00

Chloe turned 3 months old today. Wow, how time is flying. She is such a sweet baby and will smile at anyone who talks to her. It takes quite a bit of effort to get her to giggle, but it is happening more and more often these days. She only gets fussy when she is hungry, tired, or needs a diaper change. Chloe even sleeps 9-10 hours at night. We moved her into her big crib in Selina's room last week, so now they are officially roomies. I have to admit that when it came time to pack up her bassinet that was next to my bed, I actually had a hard time and got a little teary. Part of me wanted her to wake up a lot that night so that I would have an excuse to move her back to be close to me. I had no such luck.

Selina seems so old to me these days. Before we brought Chloe home she was still my little baby, but ever since Chloe has joined the family Selina has suddenly become this big girl. Selina loves her baby sister and loves helping take care of her. She gets very concerned when Chloe starts to cry, and informs me of the fact that Chloe is crying even if I am right there. She loves to dance. We try to take time each day to dance, usually it is to the music on her Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella movies. The girl has quite the imagination and I love to see her taking care of her dolls and stuffed animals. She talks to them and even puts them into timeouts sometimes. She also likes to "make" dinner for Jeff and I on her little play stove, "dinner" is usually cake.

A couple of nights ago I couldn't fall asleep. I had this desperate feeling that my girls are growing up way too fast and that I need to slow down. So I have decided that I am no longer going to stress about the fact that, try as I may, I can not keep my house totally clean. I am not going to stress anymore that I have baskets of clean laundry that need to be folded, or that my sink is full of dishes waiting to be cleaned. I am going to sit down with my babies and enjoy playing with them instead of worrying about everything that I have to get done. I am never going to get these sweet little moments back. Those other things can wait.

Feeling Good

2009-12-08T22:11:00.002-06:00

I have been doing Couch to 5k for about 2 weeks now and I can feel that it is working. As I ran earlier tonight, I was able to run faster and finish without being sore and too tired. Some nights have been hard getting going, but once I am doing it I actually enjoy it because I get some alone time and I get to listen to my music. I also feel great when I am done. If anyone is interested in getting into running, I would definitely recommend this program. It makes the task much less daunting, and it is free!

BRING IT!

2009-11-25T20:20:00.004-06:00

Tonight I started Couch to 5K (those that know me well, control your laughing please). I am determined to get into shape. There's nothing like feeling pretty yucky for 9 months to get you motivated to feel good again. I have never been a runner, but I am hoping that starting off slow and working up will help me to not get discouraged. Wish me luck, I need it!

Fall Pictures

2009-11-10T13:24:00.000-06:00

Picture Post

2009-10-16T00:12:00.013-05:00

I need to do an update on everything going on here, but I really should be sleeping right now. So for now I am posting a bunch of pictures of the girls that I took a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy! I will be back soon with a big update.

Chloe at about 3 weeks

Selina really didn't want to cooperate on this particular day!

Introducing Chloe Elizabeth Erekson

2009-09-15T22:10:00.010-05:00

Chloe Elizabeth Erekson was born September 8th at 8:02 am, and weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. For those of you that were placing bets, Chloe has auburn colored hair. She is such an amazing baby and is happy and contented most of the time. Selina loves her baby sister and loves helping out with whatever she can. We have been so thankful to have Grandma Dallin here to help and we will be sad to see her go home on Saturday.

Getting ready for surgery

Chloe's here!

All tuckered out

Selina meeting her baby sister for the first time

Dad and his girls

Happy to be going home

As Big as a House

2009-08-16T23:22:00.005-05:00

While I was on the phone with my parents tonight my dad asked "So, are you as big as a house yet?"...Well, I sure feel like I am as big as a house. I now have less than a month, though, my c-section is scheduled for 3 weeks from Tuesday, on September 8th (WAHOO!!!!).

This picture was taken a couple of days ago:

Jeff's New Airplane

2009-08-16T22:39:00.007-05:00

So my crazy husband decided a couple of months ago that he wanted to get back into flying again (he has been flying ultralight airplanes since he was 13). He has been taking some flight lessons so that he can get a license to take other people flying with him. About a month ago he found an airplane that was for sale in Tennessee that was in our price range, so he jumped all over it and the next thing I knew he and our neighbor headed to Tennessee to pick it up. Yesterday we went out to the airport to see him fly it. It was cool to see him fly finally, but at the same time it made me very nervous especially because it was a very windy day and the plane seemed to rock a little bit too much for my comfort. As Jeff put it "Liz almost had a heart attack, or a baby." Jeff admits that it may not have been the best day for me to see him fly for the first time, with all of the wind. I was just relieved to have him back on solid ground, where I wish he would stay but I know he will be right back in the air the next chance he gets.

This is how the plane was transported from Tennessee to Texas:

Here is Jeff ready for takeoff yesterday:

Here is a link to a video from yesterday of Jeff taking off:
http://ereksonfamily.org/familyuploads/minimax_takeoff.MOV

I took another video of him landing, but that was the moment that I almost had a heart attack, so it didn't turn out too well. At the end of the video, you can hear me saying something like "did he mean to land there?" He landed on the grass (which he meant to do for a softer landing), but I was expecting him to land on the runway so it worried me a little. Here's the link:
http://ereksonfamily.org/familyuploads/minimax_landing.MOV

Selina Talks About Baby Sister

2009-08-12T11:19:00.002-05:00

Here is a little video of Selina talking about her sister, who will be here in less than a month. We will see how much she really understands what is going on when we bring the baby home.

http://ereksonfamily.org/familyuploads/selina before choloe.AVI/

July in Texas

2009-07-14T22:47:00.000-05:00

Seven days above 100 degrees....Seven and a half months pregnant...'nough said!

Summertime Fun

2009-07-11T11:45:00.007-05:00

I know...I know, I have really been slacking at this blogging business. Maybe I will do better once the baby comes...maybe not.

Here are some pictures from our summer so far. We have had some fun times, including a road trip to Chicago to see Grandma and Grandpa Dallin and their new home there. My brother Michael was able to fly in from New England to spend some time there also. We had a great time!
My parent's new house is in a really cool old town, that we enjoyed walking around. Here is Selina posing with Uncle Michael, Grandpa, and Grandma in front of a fountain in town.

Jeff and Selina

I can't remember now if this is the view from my Dad's new office, or from his downtown apartment. Either way, we were really high up, which made me a little nervous! On the left there is the Sears Tower.

On the way back from Chicago we took a slight detour and spent a few hours in Nauvoo and at Carthage Jail. It was neat to go back there with Jeff and Selina.

The Nauvoo Temple

We spent the 4th of July weekend here in Texas. It has been VERY hot here, but we managed to make it to the beach at the lake by our house and to see the fireworks.

Selina has come a long way from last Summer when we spent some time at York Beach in Maine. She wouldn't touch the sand last year and cried because she was getting dirty, this year she is right there in it digging away.

And last but not least, I have to post a picture of our chickens. In addition to providing us with fertilizer, eggs, and pest control they also provide us with some great entertainment. Chickens are very funny animals, and we often find ourselves watching them out the back window while we eat dinner.

New Ultrasound Pictures

2009-05-19T21:12:00.005-05:00

I had another ultrasound yesterday and we got some good pictures this time. The first one is a cute profile shot. The second one may be hard to figure out, but she was folded in half with her feet by her face and she was holding on to her toes with her hand. The last one is of her legs. And there is no question that it is still a girl!

It's a GIRL!!!

2009-04-27T22:39:00.004-05:00

We had our ultrasound today and found out we are having another girl!!!!
I am so excited to bring home another one of these bundles:

Selina is going to be a great big sister and I am sure they will be great little buds!

Selina's Birthday

2009-02-20T19:08:00.004-06:00

Ok, this is really late, but here are some pictures from Selina's Birthday party last month.

The big 2 year old!

Blowing out the candles!

Round 2 of blowing out the candles.

Selina has been doing this same face for the past month, and she always says "Tessa's funny face!".

Selina was very happy to get some new books from Andrew, and a My Little Pony from Tessa! Thanks guys!

Selina had lots of help opening presents!

"Tea party" with Selina's new tea set.

Ultrasound!!!

2009-02-02T17:56:00.004-06:00

We had our first ultrasound today. Everything went well, and it was very fun to see the baby so early since we didn't get to see Selina at this stage. The first two pictures are some cool 3D pictures that really show the head and the nub arms. The bottom one is a regular ultrasound picture that shows the growing brain. Isn't it amazing?!

Miracle Drugs!

2009-01-26T14:00:00.002-06:00

Today I am so grateful for modern medicine! About 2 weeks ago I started in on the morning sickness faze of pregnancy, not fun. It started getting progressively worse everyday and last week I could hardly get out of bed. To spare you all from all of the details, let me just say that by Thursday of last week I was not keeping anything down. I had given into the fact that I would be sick for the next 7 months, like I was with Selina. I finally got into the doctor on Friday and was given some miracle prescriptions! I am feeling SO much better now, and more importantly, Selina has her Mom back. The medicine makes me a little drowsy, but it is amazing how much better I feel! Now I'm just mad that my last doctor did not give me the same drugs! :)

Another thing that I am so grateful for is my wonderful husband. He was a huge help to me the past 2 weeks by picking up the slack here, doing laundry and cooking all of the meals, without one complaint. We are very fortunate that Jeff can work from home a lot or else I do not know what we would have done.

Really Big Announcement

2009-01-10T21:37:00.004-06:00

Here is a little peak into the future of what I will look like in about 6 months:

This was when I was about 7 months along with Selina

You got it, we are expecting! We are excited for Selina to have a little brother or sister. I am due in September, and will be very pregnant for the hottest part of the year in Texas. Good thing we have central air!

Happy Birthday Jeff!!!

2009-01-03T20:19:00.007-06:00

Today we celebrated Jeff's 26th Birthday! This morning I asked him what he would like to do today, and he said "get some projects done around the house", so he worked all day in the garage, in the shed, and on his saltwater fish tank. For those of you who know Jeff well, you know that he is somewhat of a work-a-holic, and this was really what he wanted to do today. So I resisted the urge to make him go do something fun and allowed him to do what he wanted. We had our neighbors over for cake tonight, and had a great time!

Don't make fun, this was the first cake I have ever completely decorated on my own!

Selina and I gave him a tap and die set and bar clamps. Isn't that exciting? He had hinted at what he wanted but he didn't know what he was getting.

After Jeff blew out the candles, we had to light them again so that the kids could blow them out.

YUMMY!

Our pets. (This is one of the projects that Jeff worked on today)

Big Announcement

2009-01-01T20:51:00.002-06:00

Right before we left for Seattle we found out that Jeff was accepted into an MBA program at the University of Dallas. So just as we get out of school, Jeff is diving right back in. Jeff plans to start on January 17th and will take night classes twice a week from 6:30-10:30 at night. I don't think that it can get anymore convenient, because the University of Dallas has extension classes in an office down the hall from Jeff's office. I am so proud of Jeff and all of his accomplishments. He continues to amaze me with all of his ambition and I am so lucky to be married to him.

Our Second Christmas

2009-01-01T00:10:00.004-06:00

When we got home from Seattle we still had several presents to open from the Dallin side of the family. It was fun to be able to celebrate again. Many thanks to everyone! We are so blessed!

Selina was over her cold at this point so she was a little more into opening gifts.

All of the fun gifts together!

Seattle Friends

2009-01-01T00:03:00.003-06:00

We got Jeff's old crew together for a party. It was fun to see everyone again, we are lucky to have such great friends!

It was quite the task getting all of the kids together for a picture!

More Seattle Pictures

2008-12-31T23:50:00.004-06:00

Selina enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Selina loved having full attention of everyone in the house. Here is aunt Tami reading her a book.

Selina wanted to "exercise" a lot! She spent a lot of time bossing Grandpa around telling him "sit down" constantly and making him play with the blocks and toys with her. Thanks for being such a good sport Grandpa!

White Christmas

2008-12-31T23:34:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful time in Seattle this Christmas. It was great to be able to visit Jeff's parents and spend Christmas with them for the first time since we have been married. It snowed most of the time and finally started to melt the day before we flew home.

The back deck on Christmas Day

Selina's "Santa Pile". I thought that Selina would love the dress up things that Santa brought her, but she preferred playing with the toy cars from her stocking.

Selina came down with a cold the day after we got to Seattle, and was very grumpy for most of the Christmas festivities.

Selina was quite attached to Grandpa Erekson the whole trip!

News

2008-12-19T20:24:00.002-06:00

I have recently been working on getting some of my products ready to sell. A friend of mine from high school started up a website, createdbymom.com, where moms can post things for sell. So I decided to give it a try and put up some of my creations. Right now you can see my toddler duvet covers and my tree wall art, but I am planning to add things one step at a time. If you would like to see my stuff click on the this link.

Great Day

2008-12-13T23:01:00.006-06:00

We had a fun-filled, busy Saturday. We woke up and went to a nearby flea market, where we took our time window shopping at all of the booths. There was a wide range of things, from hand-made crafts to antiques to just plain junk. We were even able to visit with Santa. After the flea market, I headed to Hobby Lobby and Ikea (two of my favorite stores) with my friend Shanna (who also happens to live next door). Shanna and I were able to escape during nap time and enjoy a leisurely shopping trip, without chasing 2 two year olds around, it was GREAT! Tonight we went to our ward's Christmas party, where we enjoyed a yummy dinner and had fun with the other ward members. Who could ask for more, really? A day of shopping and having dinner cooked for you, what a great day!

Selina started crying when we tried to sit her on Santa's lap, so Santa told Jeff to sit on his lap with Selina. These are the moments I am glad I have a camera phone!

We watched Andrew tonight so he came along with us to the Christmas party. Selina and Andrew love playing together. They were playing Ring Around the Rosies here.

Everyone in our ward thought they were so cute as they walked around the gym holding hands.

Selina's room!

2008-12-05T00:10:00.005-06:00

I finished Selina's room! I had a lot of fun putting everything together. It has actually been mostly done for a few weeks now, I have just been waiting to get the big "S". I had to special order it from the store because apparently "S" is a very popular letter! One project down.

2008-12-04T22:16:00.002-06:00

I just took a quiz and found out I belong in 1956, HA!

You Belong in 1956

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T13:53:00.003-06:00

We had a great time going to Jake and Maren's house for Thanksgiving. Maren and Jake prepared a beautiful turkey, and we all brought sides to share. The evening was ended at their friends house with a pie EXTRAVAGANZA and a fun game of "Worst Case Scenario". I brought my camera, but unfortunately only took two pictures.

The girls had their own table but only sat there for the first 2 minutes or so of dinner.

The Critters are BIGGER in Texas!

2008-11-24T22:25:00.003-06:00

I have had to get used to living with a few unwelcome guests in the last couple of months. I try to take pictures when I come across them, so that I can share them with y'all, and y'all can be creeped out as well!

I often find these little friends scurrying across my kitchen floor and I am starting to become a tad obsessive about vacuuming my house in an effort to reduce my encounters with them.

Geckos are everywhere here! They like to sneak into our house and they often run and hide faster than we can catch them. I like to think that the ones that are living with us are enjoying some of the above spiders.

A couple of months ago I woke up to find thousands of small "Army Worms" covering our back porch, it was like nothing I had ever seen. I was totally CREEPED out! A couple of hours later I saw these black birds all over our lawn in the front and back, they were making a meal out of the visitors. We later learned from our neighbor that the worms come every few years and eat people's lawns, just wiping them out. Even though we had the birds come to eat the worms, our grass still suffered and turned brown. We are told that our grass should make a comeback next Spring. I sure hope so!

In addition to the above critters we have fire ants, snakes, and a cute little frog that lives in our yard. I do have to say that Jeff did warn me about all of the animals/bugs in Texas. After we found out that we were moving to Dallas he said "Oh, by the way, Texas has the most venomous snakes in North America, fire ants, and all kinds of other creatures."...Thanks Jeff!

My Projects

2008-11-12T15:58:00.010-06:00

Since we moved to Texas, I have been tapping into my creative side a lot more. I have been decorating our new house on a budget and I have been trying to make as much as possible to save money. Jeff has been going a little crazy with all of my projects because it is hard for me to only work on one thing at a time, so I often have several projects sitting around the house. I know this may be boring for some of you but, here are some pictures of what I am working on. When I get the house put together, I will take pictures of the finished rooms.

I searched and searched for toddler bedding that I liked and didn't really find anything to go with my theme for Selina's room, so I decided to make her comforter myself. Next to the comforter is the cute owl rug that is also for her room.

Close up of the comforter fabric.

Also for Selina's room. I saw a painting similar to this on potterybarnkids.com but it costs almost $200, so I decided to make my own version of the painting.

I have wanted a round pedestal table for a while now, and we lucked out big time when we found this sitting on the side of the road 2 houses down from us with a "free" sign on it. I had to beg Jeff to take it home, and he finally agreed. The finish on it is not good, so I am sanding and painting it.

Baby booties that I made for a friend.

Selina's new haircut. Selina's hair was crazy all of the time, it didn't matter how often I brushed it, she constantly had snarls. So I decided to cut it myself.

Squirrel Obstacle Course

2008-11-07T22:12:00.002-06:00

For your entertainment....

Trip to the Fort Worth Zoo

2008-11-04T23:32:00.000-06:00

It was fun to go to the Fort Worth Zoo this past weekend. We went with my cousin Jake, his wife Maren, and daughter Tessa and my aunt and uncle, Darcy and Steve. Selina had a great time with Tessa who is just a couple of months older. It was a perfect day, the weather was great (temps in the upper 70s!) and all of the animals were out.

Selina's favorite thing was feeding the birds

Tessa and Selina take a moment to pose for the camera

ZONKED! We really wore Selina out!

Halloween

2008-11-04T22:41:00.000-06:00

Selina and I were lucky enough to be able to take a last minute trip to Virginia while Jeff was in Wisconsin for training during October. We had a great time hanging out with Grandma Dallin and Uncle Michael.

We went Trunk-or-Treating in Virginia

Back in Texas for Halloween Day

Off for a night on the town with her new buddy, Andrew

Finally Blogging

2008-11-04T22:18:00.000-06:00

I have been inspired by my sister, Mary, and several of my friends to finally start blogging. My hope is that it will help to keep everyone updated with what the Erekson family is up to. So check back often and enjoy!