What has Shanna been up to lately?

Well I am on a roll today! Shanna Love. What a doll. Need I say more? :) She makes me laugh more every day. She is such a joy to be around and the things she comes up with on her own amaze me more and more every day. Bear with me as you look at the pictures because there are kind of a lot. But a picture says a thousand words right? And since words don't come to me as eloquently as they may to others. Well...Enjoy :)

Beloved Veggie Tales. Shes not into watching TV or movies much, but boy does she love the "sing along Veggie Tales". They are a bunch of silly songs all compiled together and she gets a kick out of them.

I frequently find (or trip over..whichever..) her little white chairs from her room strategically placed everywhere in the house and as this picture depicts she uses them for everything and anything. Turning off and on light switches is a favorite.

Now as you will notice in the next few pictures her baby dolls are everywhere. She is quite the little mother to her "babies". They eat with her...



They sleep with her...

And of course she has to carry them everywhere she goes as well! I don't know if you can tell but she has 2 babies and a couple of blankets in one arm and 2 baby doll bottles in the other hand. She is already experiences the need for more arms!!

She loves to watch us play the wii. Mainly Mario Kart. Oh, and of course she has to play as well...Or think shes playing anyway! ;)

Well...Thats Shanna. She is quite the character. We love her so much!

Playing Catch up

November 22nd a good friend of mine got married in the Oakland California temple. My mom and I went to California for a few days to be the "family" that accompanied him inside the temple since he is the only member in his family. My dad was supposed to go as well but he collapsed one of his lungs while playing racquetball a few days before we left and the doctor forbid flying. Lets see, what is that... Like number 5 injury in our family this year?!

Tyler and Natalia:

Now I just have to take a minute and explain these pictures because it totally shows Tyler's personality. He likes to be in control. This tree was crooked and half the lights didn't work so he just got rid of it :) He planned the majority of his wedding including colors, decor, and announcements.

Can't we all relate to this?! :)

My baby is 2!

December 5th, 2008 Shanna turned 2 years old! Can you believe it?! How the time has flown. I feel like shouting, STOP, SLOW DOWN. But that probably won't do much, right? :) It wouldn't hurt to try though, because my baby is growing so quickly and I don't know what I am going to do when she hits teen years....It terrifies me!

The guests...

Shanna was absolutely ecstatic this year to open up presents. She didn't need any clues, or reminders at all when it came to the "ripping open presents" part of the party :)

Children are so fun to watch when they get new things. Its my most favorite thing in the world! They are sincerely happy about it all!

Big Girl Bed!

Yes, Shanna isn't even 2 yet, but since I had the time this summer and the bed for when we moved into our house a few weeks ago, I decided to make a little quilt for her. The bed is actually part of a bunk bed but, since we only have Shanna we decided not to put it all together. So I went to JoAnn Fabrics and picked out 3 different materials. I had in mind the colors for her room: green, light pink, and red. When I spotted the strawberry shortcake fabric I just about died because it was so perfect. Then finding the other two materials was a breeze. Now, its not actually a quilt, per say, but I did cut out blocks and sewed them together like you would with a quilt. It actually has a comforter and the part I sewed actually is the cover that the comforter slips in to, like a duvet, for those of you who know that word (I didn't, I had to google it) :) And then because I had one too many rows on the quilt part, I used the remaining row to sew onto the end for the pillowcase. The pink material is actually the material I used for the underside of the blanket. It was very fun and I enjoyed learning how to use my machine (by myself). Of course you wouldn't want to look too close at the squares because the majority aren't lined up. But I really had fun, so thats all that matters right?! So for now it sits in Shanna's room unused, but there's no hurry in my opinion. Right now Shanna is semi contained and its working out marvelously! :)

And...the end result!!

And the reasons for the lack in blogging lately:

This is the outside of our house, obviously.

Front Room

Dining Room

Kitchen (Dinner was being made, and as you can see its not the cleanest :) but cut me some slack..I only just moved in last Saturday (the 1st).



Hall: door on right is the bathroom, there are 2 doors on the left, though you can't see the one kiddy corner to the end door. The door that you can see on the left is the office, then Shanna's room is the door that you can't see. The door straight ahead is the guest room.



Shanna's bathroom :) LOVE spongebob, for those of you who didn't already know.



Shanna's bedroom. The walls were already painted this lovely shade of green when I moved in, so I decided to work with it and I thought it turned out rather cute! I made the blanket and pillowcase on her bed and I will blog in more detail about that later.

And this is the guest bedroom.

Obviously, our bathroom and bedroom, and that part of the house (oh and the office) aren't shown and that's because well, they just need a bit more time for me to tackle the mess. We are so excited about this house! The loan took about 2 months to finally get and it sure was stressful during that time. But we recognize the Lord's hand in all, and realize that we are so blessed!

Fun Tag!

So, I really thought this was a really cute idea. What I did was opened my pictures folder, picked my sixth folder and then the sixth picture. Now you do it!

Now let me explain this picture a little bit. This was Decemeber 2005 and Eric and I had only been married a few months. That means that there was no Shanna yet :) Anyway, this was our Christmas Break and my mom, sister, and I were having "girl's night". We were doing pedicures and soaking our feet in some nice smelling stuff in the bath tub. Good times!

Paladin Work Picnic

Shanna absolutely adores Nicci. She talks nonstop about her 2 good friends. Bella and Nicci. I know what you are thinking...into her friends at nearly 2 years old?! Whats it going to be like at around 14 and 15? :)

Every year Eric's work puts on a picnic. It was great food! You really only go for the food right? ;) I met a ton of new people. So did Eric (since hes only been working for them for about 3 months). My cousin, Eric also works for them and has only been working about a month longer. So at times one Eric is mistaken for the other one. :)

What can I say?

Hello all! We have been busy, busy since June 14th when we moved back in with my parents after Eric got a new job in Poulsbo! Shortly after vacation, as some of you may know (and even after we were packed and on our way to moving in with my parents), my mom hit a rock while riding a 4-wheeler and crushed the plateau of her Tibial bone. She is now Bionic woman.

This is her right leg, as you can see she has a plate and 7 screws. She can now proudly say as she walks through the metal detectors at the airport, "I carry my weapon on the inside, under my skin!" I am just kidding, we love giving her a hard time. It has now been 10 weeks since her surgery and she is up and walking despite the futile atempts at making her stay in bed. However, the process has been long and she tends to get discouraged about her range of motion not being what it should be. All the while Eric, Shanna and I have been staying and helping out as best we can. While staying here we have been searching for a house. We recently made an offer that was accepted and now we are dealing with loans and appraisals and everything else that goes along with buying a house! I had no idea that buying a house was such an ordeal!! We have been most grateful for the time spent here and have loved being a part of everything. So, needless to say, the reason for my almost nothing posts, is all of the above! Stay tuned for updates and some pictures on whether or not we get the house! I also spent time this morning writing some of Shanna's most frequent sayings. Look to the right below Shanna--Wild one. Enjoy!

Hellewell Reunion June 2008

(click to enlarge)
Shanna had so much fun with her cousins that she hadn't seen in a while. Eva, Emmalee and Shanna were so excited to see each other since they had only just recently seen one another in February when we flew out there to spend a week with them.

Cadence was quite the mommy to Shanna just like last year's reunion (some may remember the post where she was feeding Shanna while she sat in her little bumbo chair.) She was so loving and Shanna just adored her because of it. We love our little Cadence!



The gang sitting around and enjoying a little wii time after a long/tiresome, but very fun day at a water park called Cherry Hill in Farmington, Utah.

Fascinated yet cautious of Izzy, one of my aunt's dogs.

Eric, Shanna and I made a trip to go see my Aunt Kathleen who has provided Shanna with TONZ of cute and fun outfits since she was born. (I know you all noticed how cute and well dressed she always is..thats a BIG HUGE thanks my wonderful Aunt)

A Happy Anniversary...

3 years ago from yesterday, August 6th, 2008, Eric and I were sealed in the Idaho Falls, Idaho temple for time and all eternity. We are now blessed with a beautiful little addition to our family, Shanna Love. I can't believe how the time has flown. And for those of you who have been married for about the same amount, know what I mean when I say that it feels like we have known each other forever! It has been wonderful to have a companion to confide in, who comforts me, and loves me unconditionally. I love you Eric!

Pictured above was our engagement picture. Pictured below are a few more engagement and wedding pictures for you to enjoy since I haven't been a blogger for as long as I have been married.