The Tipping's Arrival

The week finally came when the Tipping's visited us for the weekend! It has been a highly anticipated event since it has been over a year since we last saw them. We showed them around Twin Falls which means we showed them the canyon and Gerties, haha. No really, we had a great time visiting and catching up! We ate out, saw many of the falls, watched base jumpers, watched Twilight with the rifftrax (super funny), and stayed up chatting all night. We really missed them!

 This is behind centennial falls. Matt found a little hole that he thinks a homeless man was living in. I wouldn't doubt it.

 Watching the base jumpers

Spitting Image Of His Daddy

Aunt Carolyn

Johnny's sister passed away and her grave side service last week was lovely. She was a very witty, practical woman and I loved her dearly. I loved her last moments in the hospital when she made the doctor get the giggles when he asked her if she'd had a bowel movement and she replied, "Oh just a few sparks." And while everyone thought she was sleeping, out of nowhere she'd answer the jeopardy questions coming from her hospital tv. Or when she told Cathy she couldn't see who all was in the room. Cathy, assuming she was starting to lose her sight, started rattling off names of visitors in her room. Aunt Carolyn said, "Well I could see them if you'd just move." She was buried between her parents in her robe and I'm glad John got to spend her last few days with her. Those two were very close. I'm so glad she's been released from her body that was holding her captive and miserable and I can only imagine how great her reunion must've been with her parents and brothers.

Where There's A Happy Baby There's A Happy Mama

The Lord Is In Control

“My message to you today, my brothers and sisters, is simply this: the Lord is in control. He knows the end from the beginning. He has given us adequate instruction that, if followed, will see us safely through any crisis. His purposes will be fulfilled, and someday we will understand the eternal reasons for all of these events. Therefore, today we must be careful to not overreact, nor should we be caught up in extreme preparations; but what we must do is keep the commandments of God and never lose hope!”

Elder M. Russell Ballard

Made You Laugh

I meant to post this a few weeks ago but I keep forgetting. Trish and I were on our way home from visiting Christine and I saw a marquee at a local nursery that made me laugh. It said:

We're so excited for spring
we wet our plants

Exercising, Painting, and Gums

I got a hat for Kimball and last week we started walking. It's nice to be outdoors breathing sunny, fresh air and I always feel so good when I exercise. I refuse to weigh myself because the last two times I did, I was disappointed and wanted to give up. I think I'll wait to weigh in until I can feel a difference in my clothes. Lance and I have both done quite well on our diets. If you want to call it a diet, I'm making simple foods with fresh fruits and vegetables and we both just feel better all around. It's been nice.

I've been working on the house touching up the paint in the downstairs bathroom. That room is almost done. The office is next.

Kimball has been teething which isn't very fun for him. I still don't know 100% that he's teething because I don't see any teeth yet but I know it takes a while for them to break through. He's typically a mild and happy baby but a few times this week he'll scream and scream like he's in pain. So I've been using some Tei Fu since Heather and Trish both swear by it and within a minute Kimball calms right down. He's also down to just two naps a day and has been sleeping through the night. Lance has said a few times that he doesn't want Kimball to get teeth because he knows that means Kimball is growing up. I agree, I love his gummy smile! He's just so sweet, we can't imagine life without him!

What I Learned About Kimball

I finally got a suit for Kimball to wear to church and after months of searching all I found were suits size 12mo+ and about $50. Thanks to Bonnie, she found infant sizes for $15 at Burlington, thanks Bonnie! I was so excited to dress him in it with his uber cute polka dot tie and vest.

Little did I know, I learned that Kimball has Lance's double chin and no neck. So I could not do up his top button on the dress shirt nor could he wear a tie. I tried. I tried really hard, I even tilted his head all the way back so I could attempt to button it up. Nope. It's impossible. But he's so handsome even without the tie.
This is his Easter loot. Not much, he got a container of puffs for the future, package of spoons, package of fast-flow nipples, and some bath toys. I'm a practical gift giver. He doesn't really need toys or clothes and since he's working on solid foods, he gets spoons and puffs.

Exciting Easter? You Tell Me

I love his serious Pettingill face. And then there's the finger.

Pea Time

Third Time's A Charm?......I Hope

Ok lets start it again, my third attempt. Losing weight. I've got 20 pounds to lose and our good friends from Chas, the Tippings, are coming to visit at the end of April. Lance and I are going to try to lose as much as we can in one month. I went grocery shopping today so the fridge is stocked with fresh fruits and veggies and we're going to try a lot of new recipes including fish (gag me) and quinoa. Today I was going to walk from my house to the store to see the boys and maybe Mom and Dad if they're there. But the entire walk in that direction is right into the sun, the plus side is I can get a little color. However the stroller I have for Kimball doesn't have any visor/shade nor do I have a hat. So we made a detour and walked to Grammy Cox's for a short visit. She's supposed to get on my case if she doesn't see Kimball once a day so she's keeping me accountable.

I've found the hardest part is just getting out the door or just pushing play on my workout video. I do enjoy it once I start and I feel really good afterward. I just need that little push out the door.

Got to get a hat for Kimball. Have to. Otherwise our exercising outdoors will not happen.

Random Journaling

Just a quick update on Grandma and Grandpa Pettingill. I keep hearing things that Grandma is getting worse but that she's losing weight which would be a good thing. So I'm not sure exactly how she is, I need to go visit her again. Kimball would make her day, hopefully we'll go this week some time.

Grandpa has been on the Nutrisystem diet and has lost about 10 pounds so far. He sold his house and bought a third duplex behind D&B. I think it's a good thing he'll be closer to Dad and Wade but the selling point for him on the Duplex is that he'll be closer to Elba, haha. I think it's a really good thing that he'll be in a smaller house. The nearly 4000 square feet is too much for him to clean and keep up. But on the other hand, it's good for his health to stay active and walk around the big house. He's got four weeks until he closes on the houses and in the mean time, Mom and I have been going through the house, room by room. So far we've got Grandma's room and the fruit room done. Luckily everything is relatively clean and organized. We've got several piles of stuff namely a DI pile, yard sale pile, sentimental pile for the kids to go through, unknown pile for Grandpa to tell us what to do with, and a pile that Grandpa is taking to the duplex. We would have a lot more done but Grandpa has no clue what to do with it all. He's not sure what to give away or what to sell or what to take. So we're taking it one room at a time and luckily we still have four weeks. Ultimately, we're just happy to help Grandpa.

I do love going through old stuff. Grandpa gave away his food storage to us kids that wanted any of it. As Mom and I were cleaning everything else, we dumped out the gallons and gallons of water Grandma had stored. Most of it was in awesome old glass jugs that you'd see in a western movie. We also found a box of Grandma's honor bees when she was a young woman and the dolls from when she was a little girl. We found a box of photos that had lots of random pictures, most were the ones from the wall that she'd take down when she was given an updated photo of us grand kids. I saw a picture of Alene dressed in a beautiful pink dress in her pink casket. She looked like the most beautiful porcelain doll I'd ever seen and so grown up. She was 18 months when she passed but in the photo she looked 3 or 4 years old. So beautiful!

Lance and I have been going over our budget and trying to cut out all unnecessary things. Really, we don't purchase anything unnecessary but financially things keep getting tighter and tighter. Gas is going up again and food prices are getting so ridiculous. Every time I go to the grocery store I swear the prices are doubled from the previous month.

Kimball is becoming quite the character. He's starting to love toys and grasps them easily. He loves to eat solid foods and splash a lot in the bath tub. Just yesterday he figured out his voice and is squealing all the time.

This past weekend I went with Trish on a road trip to visit Christine. It was Trish's last getaway before she has baby #5 so it was a much needed break for her. We went to the new City Creek Mall, shopped a little, had Sub Zero ice cream, ate Christine's delicious food, and cut and dyed my hair. I definitely needed a change with my hair, no more pulling it back now. Lance missed Kimball something terrible while we were gone so those two had quite the reunion yesterday. It was sweet to watch. Thanks Christine for the awesome break!

While I was gone Lance surprised me and finished painting the downstairs bathroom. It's so fresh and bright, I love it! I need to do a little touch up but overall it looks great. Lance said he's never going to do that again, haha.

The weather is starting to warm up a bit and that's always a refreshing feel. I'm anxious to get working outside in the yard and turn off the heat inside. Outdoor dinners on the porch and afternoon strolls to Grandma Cox's is an appealing notion. Yay for spring!

Motivational Poster

Little Squirt

My Latest Favs

Crunch time.....he's actually been doing this for several weeks.

I love those eyes

Mmmmm, yucky! Big messes means bath time.

Flower Cupcakes

I made these a while back but forgot to post a picture of them. These are a trio of cupcakes made of a styrofoam ball that I pinned tiny scrapbook flowers into, complete with a pearl bead as a cherry on top. I really love how they turned out. Unfortunately, I made them for a craft auction which means I need to make some for myself. Oh yeah, and see the cake pedestal? That is a candle holder from the dollar store, and a plate from the DI. I glued them together and then spray painted them a glossy white. I love the fluted edges!