Weddings

Many of you know that Daniel and I came up to Edmonton for his brother's wedding this past weekend. All went well and it was a beautiful wedding. Daniel is already back home and in school while the kids and I are here enjoying the company of family! Here are just a couple of pictures of the wedding.

The happy couple outside of the temple. Jade looked amazing! Really nobody expected any less as she is a stunning woman!

She was a good sport for our welcome to the family and is showing off the sash I made to pass on the title of the newest Mrs Bateman. We figure she will have this title for about 6 years. Thank you Julie for helping me with the sash... it really wouldn't have turned out nearly as nice if you hadn't lent me your talents for the afternoon!

Congrats Jared and Jade!!

Video Time!

So I am going through our cameras right now... can you tell? I need them empty for the wedding!!



SO this is proof(?) that Kimber has started walking. This is from a few weeks ago when it was a novel thing. She wasn't so happy in performing for us!

Daniel caught this one on tape. All I can say is that they are really cute kids!

Well that is all. Enjoy!

Big Kids... When did they grow up!??

I honestly don't know when these two got so big and grown up! Kimber is full on walking now. Until the end of last week she still preferred to crawl but over the weekend she just took off walking all over the place. She also is a pro at climbing up onto the couch so pretty much nothing is off limits to her now!

She loves to lay on the couch like a big kid. You may not be able to tell from this picture but she literally is loving this doll to death. Only the hand that you see is still attached to the doll. The rest she has ripped off and crawls around trying to eat them. Kinda morbid I know but she looks funny crawling around with a foot hanging out of her mouth.


Bens is in a few new stages. First if you ask him to smile he gives an incredibly fake smile. I think he may get that from me! Second he is in the phase of saying "But I want to!" Any suggestions on how to help him out of this phase? I am not a big fan of him hitting my table with utensils, or hitting me and Kimber etc and then say "But I want to!" He is a fun kid now. He just made a fort out of a table and a laundry basket. What a clever boy!


I recently trimmed Kimber's bangs again. I mad less of them so her hair will grow out of the semi mullet she has going. This has made her look so much older! Just yesterday somebody told me that even in the past few weeks she has started looking older because of her facial expressions. What a cutie!

Her hair is also officially long enough for pigtails! They stay in nicely as long as she isn't rubbing her head on her carseat, crib etc.

I painted her toe and finger nails for the first time today. She looks really cute with pink nails! I painted them for our big weekend. Daniel's brother is getting married on the weekend so we are flying up to Edmonton tomorrow. It will be Kimber's first flight and Benson's second so it should be interesting! I will be up in Edmonton for 2 weeks while Daniel comes back down for classes next week. We are looking forward to spending time with our family. I will have to post after the wedding what I have made for my new SIL. I do have to say that I did a pretty good job so stay tuned for that, next week maybe? It may not be until I get back in 2 weeks though.

Self- Reliance Update

So I said that I would keep you updated on my progress in my Self-Reliance degree so here we go. I just want to thank all of you that have support me in this even just by cheering me on as I go... it is greatly appreciated!

I think I will just go through each of the college's and check off what I have done and maybe give a little blurb about it. So in warning this may be a longer post with no pictures.

First off is the College of Psychology which is my major. Hmmm, maybe I need to work on this a little more! Literally 10 minutes ago I finished reading a book that my SIL Rachel gave me for Christmas called 'Contentment' by Maria Covey Cole. It talked about having contentment in the role of motherhood. It was a good book and enlightening if any of you want to read it. I did find that dwelt a bit more, in parts, on being content in being a stay at home mommy rather than a business woman. Anybody that has heard me talk about my 2 month stint at BYU-Idaho knows that isn't a problem for me! Next is changing something about my appearance. I mentioned this in the last self-reliance post that I had died my hair and gotten new glasses so I believe this one is covered! Count on this major... 2/8 down. I need to work on this one!

College of Theology isn't doing too much better as I have finished one of my goals. I am well on my way to finishing another but lets start with the one that is done. We have been holding a weekly FHE in our home for more than 2 months now so I am pleased with this. Some weeks are more difficult than others but there is always room to improve right? I currently working on my goal to read the scriptures for fifteen minutes at least 3 times a week for 2 months. I am about a month into this one. Sometimes I am nearing the end of the week and remember at midnight or so and make myself stay up to get it all in.

Next we move on to the College of Applied Arts. I posted pictures of my 'container' garden a while ago. I am sad to say that Bens will often look out our back door and say "Mommy's flowers sick!" I am not the best at watering and it has been ridiculously hot here the past little while. The next goal to check off is cleaning the car inside and out. A big thank you goes out to the Barnette's that let us use their parking spot for the day while I stripped the van down and vacuumed it thoroughly! We made a family out of going to the car wash to get the outside cleaned nicely. Bens now asks to get his car washed whenever we drive past a car wash.

Next we take a stop at the College of Business and Economics. I have cleaned out one and half of our closest and need to finish the kids closet as we have bins of clothes sitting in our hallway waiting to find a home in the closet. Our closet under the stairs, affectionately called the Harry Potter closet, was cleaned out and now needs it again. Never ending job!

College of Fine Arts is one that I thought was easy but I haven't taken the time to just do it. I have been practicing the piano more often though so that is one goal down here! I am finding that the kids are starting to take a real liking to the piano now too. If I am playing Kimber climbs on the couch and onto the piano bench and plays with me. Bens has figured out how to pull the bench out and open the piano so we will randomly hear some 'nice' music floating through the house.

The college of Home Economics- Cooking has not made much progress either but we have successfully planed a weekly menu and stuck pretty close to it for 4 weeks. Since then it has gone down hill but we are planning on picking that one right back up. It makes the home run much smoother at night time when we have that all planned out!

We will move past the Home Economics- Sewing and go on to Interior Design. I finally made the book shelf that resides in my bedroom into a home library instead of a random junk/toy shelf. It is nice to know where the books are!! We are also slowly adding to the collection as you will hear about in the next college.

Speaking of which we are at the college of Language Arts. I have a tradition of writing in a book that I started on Daniel's and my first Valentine's together. It is the story of our lives together that I update for Daniel each Valentine's Day. This year I sort of dropped the ball and meant to write in it for about 4 months until I finally got to it and did for our anniversary. Yay for updating or family history!! My next goal I am in the process of working on is writing in my journal once a week for 3 months. I started this and wrote when I felt like it and that didn't work so every Sunday I write in it to make sure that it is at the very least weekly! The last goal in this college is where the addition to the home library comes in. I have been reading the Harry Potter series since the fall. Thanks to Teresa for lending me some of the books... I don't want you to think I have stopped reading them. Daniel has started buying me used copies of each book as I come up to reading them. So I have spent at least 15 minutes a day reading to myself. I have actually averaged reading the later books in a week and a half. Daniel refers to himself as a 'Harry Potter Widower'. He keeps buying them for me so he must not mind so much!

The College of Physical Education. I have not started exercising yet. I keep getting reminders that I need to exercise but it will come shortly. No, I am not setting a date on that one! I have been flossing my teeth 3 times a week though for more than 3 months so we are down one more goal. I really like this next goal. Go swimming. Last week my parents were here and stayed in a hotel with a pool. I got to swim twice with them and then again on Saturday at a friends house. That was a welcome activity with the heat the past few days!

In the college of Social Science I have finished one of my goals. Some may not really believe me when I say that I never read the book 'Anne Frank; Diary of a Young Girl' in school but honestly, I didn't. I decided this would fit for reading a biography or autobiography of a famous person. I really didn't enjoy it all that much. I may get a lot of slack for saying that but I felt that she was really whiny and got mad at her Mother much too often. I do realize she was a 13 year old girl and in terrible circumstances but the only saving grace for me was when she became interested in Peter Van Daan. Her outlook seemed to change the slightest bit then. Maybe if I had read this as a teenager I would not feel this way but I am a 25 year old mother and would hate to have my children think of me in the ways that she thought of her mother. Rant done.

My last goal I have done is in the college of Career Development. I have been making the conscious decision to get ready for my day when I get up. I don't remember the last time Daniel came home to me in pajamas or a robe. I know that is ridiculous but it happened!

I am feeling pretty good about what I have accomplished but now need to sit down and plan out and take action on my other goals. Time is a ticking! I believe the Relief Society is going to be finishing this up in October so I have about 2 months left. Thanks again for all of your support but now my long winded post is done. Have a great night!