Thad's Baby Blessing

Thanksgiving weekend was just a great weekend. Not only did we have a delicious feast with the Gilstrap crew in beautiful Arroyo Grande, we blessed our darling Thad.

We decided to bless Thad at Sam and Kelli's house. After morning church, we returned to the house where Evan gave Thad a blessing. We started with the song "Families Can Be Together Forever" followed by an opening prayer by Grandpa Gilstrap. After a brief family testimony meeting, Evan blessed Thad. The circle included Grandpa Gilstrap, Grandpa Marquardson, Uncle Sam, Uncle Jim Watkins, and of course Evan.

We concluded with another song and my dad closed with a prayer. It was really special.

Brunch followed.

Thanks to all the family for putting together such a wonderful event, especially Sam and Kelli for hosting. Thad is such a sweet baby; he is so happy, content, patient, and eats and sleeps well. He is just a dream. At this time of year I am so incredibly grateful for this new life. Thad is just a joy.

I am so incredibly thankful to be a mother.

Baby Puj Tub

So, after storing Dallin's big, bulky blue bathtub for about two years, we ended up donating it deciding it wasn't worth the space in our garage anymore. Since Thad came along, I'd been doing the awkward, hold his head up and wash real quick with the other arm in the sink thing. Then I tried the puj tub recently.

It's basically a flat piece of nice, plastic styrofoam (I'm sure it's much fancier than that, but that's how I'd describe it). It has magnetic closures which keep it in the shape to cradle a baby. You'll just have to check out pictures. My first attempt at using the tub was okay. The magnetic closures kept coming undone (maybe my sink is bigger than normal) and the instructions didn't really cover this. It was tricky to figure out if I fill my sink with water and the puj tub? I ended up doing this, but when it came time to get the soap off, I had to drain all the water and run new (which = not so happy baby.)

Attempt number two was much better. I realized my leaving one of the magnetic closures undone made it fit in my sink much better. Because this fits in your sink, I wasn't sure how to put more water in without getting it on Thad (I have two levers to turn on the water). So this time I just kept it running slightly. Still too tricky to wash his hair, so I did that after his bath.

All in all it was so much easier to bathe him having both hands available. I love that it's flat to both dry and store. It's soft too and Thad was comfortable in it. I wish it came with a suction hook to dry out in my bathtub. More instructions could have helped, but I think we figured it out okay.

Check out the Puj Tub for yourself at the new web site exclusively for baby bath tubs!

Seattle November 2009

While Evan worked in Singapore, the boys and I headed to Seattle! We had a wonderful trip with Grandma and Grandpa Marquardson for about two weeks. Seattle has a great children's theater and grandma and grandpa were kind enough to take us to the play If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. It was wonderful!

Seattle is home of lots of great stores, one of them being Packaging Specialties. I'd love to start a store in the bay area--it would be such a hit. My mom watched the kiddos while I took a class on 'Incredible Edibles.' Basically they show you how to use all their packaging (box, within a box, within a tin!) to make goodies look amazing. I'm still learning, but love the inspiration.

Other highlights of the trip included Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium, lots of sewing and crafting with my mom, painting my parents bedroom, and being spoiled to workout while mom watched the boys.
Unfortunately, just a few pictures!

Who knew octopus legs doubled as swords??

The flight home.

Thanks mom and dad.

Merry Christmas!

We are loving this time of year! I've done a few festive things that my mom and sis want to see.

First, my advent calendar (this is the best Dallin smile I could get!). This was from Martha Stewart. If any of you want to make this, I'd be happy to share my tips since lots of her steps were either missing or didn't work..

Inside each tin can I included a scripture about Christ, an activity for the day and some chocolate.

My mom and I  used these cookie cutters to bake cookies. Here they are all packaged up.

So after a couple of pretty hectic days crafting, here we are hanging out today. I wanted to blow dry my hair, so I placed Thad on the ground outside my bedroom. Dallin decided Thad needed some toys! What a nice big brother. Merry Christmas!!

HP Discount for all!

We've been out of town, but here is something to get your holiday shopping started off right! HP friends and family discount here:

www.hpdirect.com/deals/friendsandfamily/cathielesjak

My Two Punkins

I've never enjoyed Halloween as much as I have being a mom. There's nothing cuter than dressing your kiddos up in costumes! This year we had Spiderman (who is actually a frequent in our house) and a dragon.

The parties started Friday night with a FABULOUS church Halloween party. They really knock themselves out every year. Dinner, games, costume parade, jumpy house, trick or treating, and the most amazing decorations you've seen. Dallin loved his face painting: (well, everything but the 'trying to get it off' part later that night!)

Due to Evan being a bit under the weather, I was solo at the party so not too many pictures! On the actual day of Halloween we headed down to Gilroy Gardens. The rides that scared Dallin a year and a half ago are now a blast. Those goldfish on the kiddy ride really get moving quick you know! Here he is on the carousel:

Cousin Wyatt's Blessing

Wyatt Gilstrap was blessed last weekend in Pasadena and we were so glad we could go! First, a shot of the cousins (not including the newest babies) Jeffrey-David-Ryan-Owen-Dallin. What a great crew of guys!

Thad sleeping, tie and all. I cannot rotate this thing!

In the backyard..Couldn't help ourselves.

The whole crew! (notice Thad sleeping in the front in his carrier!)

After the blessing, Evan dropped me off at Kates for a visit. They just bought a great house and we were there to check it out (well, or avoid the construction workers). The boys didn't mind eating at McDonalds and heading to the Pumpkin Patch. Dallin drove the car and had a great time. My great stroller managed to fit 3 kiddos too!

We couldn't get Billy to smile with his momma..

Thank goodness for Jetblue's inflight entertainment. The $2 headphones were worth their weight in gold for a smooth flight home.

Thanks for the visit Kate, Jim and Billy!