1 month with our Babe

Baby L just turned one month old on the 11th and its safe to say that we are still trying to figure her out, but I feel like this week she gaining a little bit of a routine so its getting better.  Baby L has put on a lot of weight which isn't from all the Christmas treats haha but just a better eating schedule and eating more.  I've had to already start packing away clothes that she is out-growing (in length, she is getting long).  She makes hilarious faces at me and Daniel, usually at night or early morning.  She still has this funny sound she makes when she sneezes that makes me giggle every time.  She has a very loud cry (scream) when hungry and food is taking to long.  We've established her hunger cry as apposed to the dirty diaper cry, and also her I'm bored or this place cry. She loves tummy time.  Since adding formula to her feedings she is only getting up about 2 times in the night.  We're usually up for a 3rd time right before Daddy leaves for work, which I like because then we get to send him off with baby kisses.  L is gradually liking her bouncer as long as she is in a happy mood to begin with.  She is kind of the opposite of most babies in that she really likes noise.  She sleeps at any gathering of people and has snoozed through church just like an experienced high priest haha.  It surprises me just because our house is very quiet all day and night.  Most people comment how shes always asleep, well the key is become quiet and you'll probably see those beautiful blue eyes of hers.  I'm pretty sure shes went through 200+ diapers since coming home, which I never expected to go through so many.   We just love her and her little personality.  I've commented to Daniel that although getting up with her in the night isn't fun, and sometimes shes been naughty you can't help but love her in the morning because she's just so darn cute.  Best Christmas/birthday/anniversary/v-day gift after Daniel of course I've ever received, I'm sure Daniel will agree as well.

 

Our cute little gift under the tree

 Her doing tummy time after a long shopping trip

Her hair usually is all over the place sticking up, so after a bath I parted it over

Baby L

 6 pounds 19 1/2 inches long

full head of dark hair

 these two are my whole world I tell ya, they're are buds

 Going home, I think we all were ready

 Going home outfit

 Mom likes to give me a mohawk

 Wasnt sure if this would fit by christmas so I wanted to take a picture

Birth story

We are proud parents to a beautiful baby girl.  Baby L decided to join our family last week on Veterans day (by a little help from inducing meds and doctors). I went in for my usual weekly appointments the Friday before and my blood pressure was slightly high and I was showing beginning signs of pre eclampsia.  My doctor wasn't way concerned but wanted to follow up on things over the weekend and for me to go back in on the following Monday to have my blood pressure taken and the proteins inside of me to be checked.  All my my blood work came back normal and my blood pressure looked great on Monday, but I still was showing high amounts of protein. My doctor wasn't supposed to be in on Monday but while I was there he walked around the corner.  He looked at my results and just came and said you know I'm not too concerned with you, but you're 38 weeks I really feel like its only gonna get worse, so I say we induce you tonight.  Definitely came as a little bit of a shock to me that I would be having a baby in the next hours or days.  I really can't even remember that drive back to Provo, and I'm pretty sure I was speeding the whole way.  I couldn't wait to get to Daniel and hug him and see how he was handling the news.  The best part for us about knowing ahead of time rather then just going in to labor was that I was able to prepare us a little before leaving.   I dropped Daniel off at school and was able to go do our laundry and make sure the house was clean and that all bags were packed.  When Daniel got home from school we decided to celebrate/get our last real meal that both of us would eat for awhile (Cafe Rio), then we waited to hear word from the hospital of when we could come in to start.  I was able to get a very sweet comforting blessing from Daniel and then we headed to the hospital.  We got there and I was pretty nervous, I've never been a patient in a hospital so it was pretty scary.  They got me in a room and got me my gown and then had me lay down.  We had a nurse that came and filled out all the questions she needed before starting the meds.  We started the meds about 10 pm to start the effacement process.  Which started the contractions pretty much immediately for me and left me not sleeping at all, I wanted to for go pain meds until I really needed them (which wasn't my best idea), and also the fact that a lot of times they slow the effacement process down.   I went the whole night like that and then at 5 am I was ready for an epidural.  After receiving that they started the pitosin (?) because I was almost completely effaced.  Everything picked up really fast and by 7 am my doctor came to check on us and I was dilated to a 7 so he broke my water.  Then everything really picked up.  I was still feeling contractions even after the epidural so they came and re-dosed that right before I began pushing at 10 am. A little over 3 hours Baby L came into the world.  The whole pregnancy and especially the last few weeks and her birth have been filled with so many blessings.  Tiny miracles in our book.  We are so grateful to our doctor who has always been so calm and fitting to mine and Daniels quiet calm personalities and always reassuring us that things would be okay.  We're also so blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father that knows our needs and trusted us enough to have one of his daughters.  Baby L has definitely brought a un discribable spirit to our home, and has brought us so much happiness.  

Labor Day

Our Labor day was spent getting Daniel ready for school, figuring out me a couple projects to keep me busy and spending the day together.  Daniel had the day off from work so we got to sleep in a little bit which is always nice for him I'm sure.  We went on a little quiet picnic to this pretty little, shady area just to the side of BYU campus.  I thought I was being cleaver on picking this for an idea, turns out a lot of people got the same idea.  Great minds think a like I guess.   It was fun though, if it wouldn't have been a little cold we both commented that we could have taken a nap right there on the blanket in the fresh air.  We then headed to Walmart to get some last minute school supplies for Daniel.  We learned that Walmart is crazy the day before school starts in a college town.  College students were everywhere filling there grocery carts with microwavable foods, school supplies and things they probably realized there dorms/apartments didn't have.  It was also P-day for the missionaries so you can imagine how packed the store was.   We were able to get Daniel a large white board that he has already put to good use doing homework.  I got a little bit of fabric for our halloween costumes (more of that to come in October).  We came home and took a nap and then the work began.  We were able to organize, get rid of stuff, and just make things look nice in our apartments.  It looks so much better and we both just feel like were not as surrounded by boxes and storage.  It also makes room for baby stuff that we'll be needing in the next few months.  We also got a crib this weekend.  I've been stressing about finding one for quite sometime and I wanted it to be cute and in decent condition.  I'd been checking on KSL for a few months, checking all the stores I could think of everyday hoping there would be a clearance sale, and entering contests for them or money toward them.  Well I finally found one on Sat. morning I just so happened to look on ksl and see a good deal and it looked great, called the lady and she said that we needed to hurry because she'd been getting lots of calls about it.  So we jumped in the car and drove to Orem in our pajamas and took a look, and loved it.  It really is in great condition and looks so cute in our little girls room/office/storage.  haha gotta love apartments but with the cleaning we did it just makes it seem more like her room. 

There's our Labor Day of fun!

As of lately

When you don't have a high tech phone that sends pictures straight to your email it's hard to keep your blog updated.   I'm the type of person who loves to read blogs with pictures so it kills me to write a post without any, but I need to keep this updated. 

Some events from this past month

July 4th was spent with my (Juliann) family, we had an afternoon bbq at the parents house.  The kids got to swim and everyone else just got to enjoy each others company.

July 18th we got to go in for our big ultra sound and see our little girl.  The tech told us that she must have been asleep because she didn't do very much moving during the visit.  We're learning that she is pretty chill during the day and more active during the night.  Silly girl. 

July 19th we got to go to the Bountiful temple for Daniel's brothers endowment session, we then slept over at his parents house because the session got out late and also for the exciting events of July 20th :)

July 20th Daniel's Sister came home from her mission.  She was supposed to come home the wed. before but a storm hit the Philippines leaving her flight canceled.  It was fun to all go to the airport and get to see her for the first time in 18 months.

July 24th  We had a very quiet 24th just together.   We had decided that with all the driving back and forth we had done that we both were just so beat and tired of traveling, and Daniel had some home work to do too.  So we stayed home and relaxed and went and got ice cream cones later that night.  It was so nice to just spend that day with him. 

Aug 2-3  My family goes to Heber every year for the rodeo, parade, Heber days events.  This year some friends let us stay at there cabin just past Strawberry.  We decided not to do the rodeo this year and just go to the parade and stay the night at the cabin.  It was a fun little get away for the night and a great drive with the hubs. 


About us

Daniel is finishing up his first semester at BYU and will take his finals next week.  He has been working at Ancestry and has liked doing that.   He stays pretty busy with homework, work and sneaking in time to do the dishes for me.  (sure love him for that, because I hate dishes with a passion)

Juliann is staying pretty busy making things for the babe and finding little projects to do around the house.  Shes been making little learning packets for teaching our kids numbers, colors, shapes, etc.

Baby Girl like we said is very active at night, she knows when it is bed time for mom and dad because then its her play time.  It's like she already has this personality that is showing through her actions.   She loves with Daniel is around and usually makes it known when he is talking, she knows his voice.   She sure loves him just as much as I do for sure, but I don't blame her he's pretty awesome. 

Well that's us as of lately

Exciting News (Something new, Pink, and coming soon)

We are so excited to announce that we are having a baby girl.  She will be joining our family in Nov.  so we already know what our side dish is going to be for Thanksgiving dinner haha.  We are really excited for this little girl to join our family and look forward to being her parents. 

We went to the doctor last thurs.  I was almost 18 weeks, the doctor did just a general ultrasound that isn't the high tech version.  We were able to still see that we were indeed having a girl though.  I think we both were a little in shock, mostly realizing that there still was a kid inside and that she was growing and gonna be our responsibility the rest of our lives.  We went and got some pink and blue balloons to do a little gender reveal video to send to our families.   I would post the video but its not saved to this computer.  Anyway there ya have it Baby Hepworth is healthy so far and we quite love her already.

Fathers Day

This fathers day weekend I was reminded of two fellas in my life and what they mean to me.  I think every little girl and big girl dreams of marrying a man that is like or similar to there father.    I am lucky enough to have the best father.   I'm also very lucky that I have a husband that is perfect and my kids will be very lucky to have him.   I was reminded on Sat. of a certain quality that both of them have that is such an example to me of selfless love.   (A little story)   Ever since we've moved into this new ward Daniel has tried to make it to every person that has moved outs house to help.  He's never been asked but if he hears word or sees a u haul he steps up.  He heard about a neighbor moving out various times and every time he went there was no sign of moving, but yet he still dropped everything to make sure.   This past Sat. we got home from a day in WVC, we were exhausted,  I was in a really bad mood and know I needed to start dinner.   He sees that theirs a u haul at there house at 7 at night (who moves at that time) he makes sure I'm okay and asks if he can go and help.  I tell him yes even though the whole time he's gone I'm just furious thinking this is not his job to always drop everything,  dinners gonna be cold, why can't he just spend some time with me.  (selfish I know)  Then I'm finally coming to my senses and think you know what it's okay.  Then of course he comes back and says I'm gonna follow them to there new place and help them move some stuff, I'm the only one helping them so I feel like I should.  (Are you kidding me, but yes dear you can go).   After he left I had this major moment where I was reminded of the selfless love that my sweet Daniel has.  I thought about all the sacrifices he makes for me and for others.   There has been so many times when he's asked to go with the missionaries, give someone a blessing, or just move like on Sat. with no time to even think.  When I came to this conclusion about Daniel I also was reminded that my father is the exact same way.  Just that day here we are for a dinner to celebrate him and he's no where to be found because he's serving my brother by making sure he had things he needed for his house.   I remember countless times growing up when my dad would drop what he was doing to serve a neighbor.   He borrowed tools (sometimes without a return ) to neighbors, he would give of his time to countless boys in the ward that didn't have amazing role model dads, he'd give blessings in non priesthood homes, he'd use his time off to go on all scout camps, he'd drop anything to run to the store for my mom, mowing a neighbors very long lawn, and just last week giving up a sat. to drive to Provo to help us with our car problems.    I'm so grateful for these two men in my life.  I mean how could you not love such amazing service minded men.  I know these two would never tell people the things they do, but I feel a little recognition is needed this Fathers Day.   I hope all fathers and some day fathers had a great day.

Apartment Tour

So a lot of family haven't seen our new apartment yet and have been requesting pictures.  Here's a little peak into our Provo apartment.

 this is our door from the inside

 Our kitchen table is the first thing you see coming in, make a left and your in the living room

 from one corner you see my fancy red shelf that gets decorated for holidays, tv, movies

 the other corner view is the couch and book shelf

 and then once again the craft corner

 back into the kitchen we have the fridge hiding a bit

 cupboards, sink, oven, etc.

 there's also a little pantry closet where we store food, pans, ironing board.

 The hallway leads to the two bedrooms and bathroom

 first door on the right is the bathroom.  I think this room is still my favorite decorated room ever.

 our bathroom is super tiny, we have to duck down to get in the shower haha

 Next room is the second bedroom/office/child room/storage room.   It has many purposes :)

 Then of course the bedroom.  We took the smaller room because it had a bigger closet and we knew more stuff would be going in the larger room.

Our very full closet, I think Daniel only has like 8 shirts on the right and I take up the rest. 




Well there ya have it

Provo thats how we roll

We moved!

Daniel got excepted to BYU a few months ago and we finally made our move to Provo.  We got all packed up last week and moved in on Sat. thanks to so many family members.  We are sure lucky that everything has fallin into place as far as switching to summer semester which helped out with Daniels program to the apartment being in better condition then we expected.  We are also so lucky that we had people help us move, the stairs weren't very fun but they never complained.  We have quite enjoyed it so far.  Daniel is looking for a job right now so we've had a few days to just explore and have fun together.  It's weird that you can live in a place less then a week and already feel like your home and slightly forget what it was like to live in an old place.  I must just have bad memory haha or its Heavenly Fathers way of making you feel good about your situation and choice.  Here's a few pictures, not a lot.  We need to get better at taking more pictures. 

 First time living without a dish washer, it really hasn't been to bad.  This is our first round of wash :)

 This place has a cute little corner desk, because Daniel already has a desk I made it my craft corner.  I'm pretty excited for this and I think Daniels excited because maybe my sewing pins will stay in this corner haha (maybe I'm not making promises)

 Our laundry building, it actually has lots of washer and dryers and was dead.  We were able to do like six loads (theyre small we don't have a ton of stuff)  without anyone else being there.

 Daniel being the folding man

Daniel has really wanted to play soccer for days so he went and set up his goal and shot some.  I swear children are just drawn to Daniel, this little boy came out and wanted to play.  He saw all the soccer balls he had and was just like wow, wow. 


I also wanted to share that Daniel has a new buddy.  We stayed with his parents this last Sunday and Daniels Bro and sis inlaw were also there with there daughter.  Lets just say that every time I looked over they were together.  It was the cutest thing in the world.  They are friends and although I was slightly jealous jk I couldn't help but love what I was seeing. 

Wedding bells are ringing

A friend of my moms asked me a few months back if I would make some wedding table decorations for her daughters upcoming wedding.  I was thrilled that she asked and was excited to have something to keep me busy for a little while.  I also was pretty nervous saying yes,  this was someones wedding and I wasn't confident in my level of skill.  I also just didn't want to make a mistake, or the fear of getting all done and it not being what they pictured.  I'm happy to say though that it was a success and they loved it.   The bride to be wanted a southern/rustic type wedding.  She is from the south and wanted it to have elegance in the colors but that rustic charm that could be added in the details.   So this is what I came up with. 

Her colors were pale pink, cream, champagne

 I made her throw bouquet and two little bouquets for flower girls

 This is the base of her bouquet

 These were just veggie cans spray painted cream and then I put burlap then lace over the top

 I made this sign that she could put by the cards table
I also did these really adorable jars but forgot to take a picture.  They were just simple canning jars, I threaded pearls on twine and wrapped it around the jar a few times, for the lid I just took some lace put in on paper then screwed the lid back on.

My dad took this picture of what the tables looked like at the actual wedding. 
I'm hoping that if she posts some pictures on facebook I can maybe snag a few to put on here. 

I sure do love decorating and doing fun stuff like this

Gotta Love Taco Time Sauce

If you know me at all you know that I love Taco time sauce, okay and I love Taco time.  Well I found out that I could make there crisp bean burritos a while back.  So what did we eat on the blessed day of May 5th, crisp bean burritos.  Live would not be complete with out taco time sauce so had to pick some of that up as well. 

Random Exciting and Yummy

What have we been up too?  Not a whole lot, but I do have a few pictures I wanted to share.  One being a mission call in the family, cute baby pictures, and of course a yummy recipe. Enjoy!

Daniel's brother got his mission call to Chile.

Were so excited for him

My sister started making these adorable baby shoes.

Aren't they the cutest things you ever did see.

Oh wait this is the cutest thing I ever did see, man I just could snuggle her all day.

As promised a recipe

Homemade Crackers 

I just put everything in my food processor and pulsed it together, once mixed roll in a ball and put in the fridge for 15 min.  Roll dough out on floured surface to the thickness you want.  

Cut into squares or any shape you'd like.  If you have a child you may want to do a animal or fun shape.  I made mine look like cheeze-it crackers.

Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 min or until crispy.

These were so good, a little to good meaning that they were eatin really fast.  I like that they're healthier then the store bought ones, and so much cheaper.

The babies have arrived

We were excited for the arrival of the Babies.  Daniel's Brother A and his wife F were expecting there 5th child (gender unknown)  and My sister was going to be having a girl.  Little did we know we'd get both of them in the same week.  Last week was so exciting to hear of there births and to get to see and hold them.  I just love babies especially newborns.  A and F ended up having another little girl, we got to see her at Sunday dinner.  Holding her was such a great moment for me this being the first of there kids to hold as a newborn.  She was so sweet and wide awake the whole time.  I also mentioned that my sister had her little girl this week as well.  She had her on the 27th just a tiny little girl, 5lbs.  Little baby O was definitely anticipated by our family being that the last baby was a couple years ago.  She is also so sweet, just sleeps and has that mushy skin you just want to keep kissing hahah.  I got to go see her twice while in the hospital and a couple times since being home.  Here's some darling pictures of Baby O that I captured.

Meeting her for the first time

(love at first site)

a little selfie from O

Momma and Baby 

O doing her signature pose

Uncle Daniel meeting her for the first time

(theirs just something about a man holding a baby......LOVE)

We sure do love all our nieces and nephews.

(and Juliann declares holding of babies as her new hobby)

Spring is the best

It's that time of year again, Spring, Spring, Spring  (only you seven brides for seven brothers fans would get that reference)

I love the Spring!  I've been enjoying the weather and the beautiful sun that shines through my windows.  I've also enjoyed not wearing a jacket inside and cracking the windows open for some fresh air.  Sadly though I really don't have much to blog about so I thought I'd share some recipes I've tried recently.

Baked sweet and sour Chicken (served over rice)

Breading for chicken
3-4 chicken breasts
1 1/2 C cornstarch
3 beaten eggs
1/4 cup oil

Sauce
1 C sugar
4T ketchup
1/4 C vinegar
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
1T soy sauce
1t garlic salt

chop chicken into small chunks, dip in cornstarch then into the eggs, place in a pan with oil just so they lightly brown on the outside, then place on cookie sheet.
In a bowl mix the sauce ingredients, when mixed poor over chicken.

Bake 30min to 1 hour at 325  Don't over cook or the sugar tends to make it very hard.



Oreo truffles

1 pkg of oreos
4-6 oz cream cheese

in a food processor chop the oreos then add to softened cream cheese, once mixed well form into small quarter size balls, place on cookie sheet (with wax paper on it)  place in freezer for about 15 min.
Dip in white chocolate, or any chocolate really.  Keep refrigerated until serving.

It's Just Hair

If someone was to ask me something about my appearance I wish I could change, I'd say my hair.  My hair is just not the best in my opinion.  Its texture is course, it's think and uneven, the color is just not a color that I'd say is noticeable.  I'll be honest I struggle with my hair at least 5 days out of the 7.  The other day I was really struggling to make it look somewhat attractive.  I was huffing and puffing and just not in the best mood.  I may or may not have thrown a few bobby pins and told Daniel that I gave up.  Daniel came into the bathroom and decided to humor me a little and said he'd do my hair, so I let him attempt.  I think he finally came to the same conclusion as me that it is not easy to work with.  We got a good laugh at in and it calmed me down enough to be able to figure something out.  This experience got me to thinking that yes I don't like my hair but it is just hair.  There are plenty of women in this world that either don't have hair for an unexplained reason or the loss of hair by medicine to help them fight a life threatening disease.  I hope to appreciate the fact that I have hair, even more to appreciate the days when its a great hair day.  Thought I'd share some hair  ideas I want to try in the next week, if they work out I'll post the outcome.

Oh its a jolly holiday with Daniel

What was the holiday we celebrated in our home......Daniels Birthday!

I sure do love this day because I'm so glad Daniel was born so that down the road he could meet me.  I definitely owe his parents for making such a wonderful guy that I'm lucky to call my husband.  Now let me say that Daniel can talk me in to anything, when I say anything I mostly mean any gift that enters our home.  I can't resist his charm I guess, or maybe I'm just as excited for him to open his gifts.  So one of his gifts was opened a week early and then a couple more a few days later, and then the last gift was a book that I placed on the book shelf to see if he would find it before his birthday.  It was fun to see him wonder where the gift was and eventually after looking at the place a few times noticed that something was different.

Opening the first gift which was a mini air hockey table

Air hockey table

some soccer cones 

We went to Tocanos for dinner for a Brazilian feast

(which leads to one happy birthday boy)

Look at that cute face stuffed with food 

My plate usually looks like this when we go there, lots of carbs haha