Unintentional Environmentalism

I am not an environmentalist. I repeat, I am not an environmentalist... but am I? Now, please don't misunderstand, I LOVE the earth & strongly believe in taking care of Her, cleaning up trash, recycling, using less packaging etc... I just don't want to be labeled as a radical, card-carrying, save-the-planet, stop-global-warming-neo-nazi Al Gore fan - because I am NOT. What I am, however, is a very earth-conscious, pro natural-living mother who is trying each day to do my part to lessen the impact of garbage & pollution. Leaving the planet a better place for my beautiful children.


Example #1: I use 100% Recycled Eco Felt in all my BugBites Toys. I believe that we shouldn't be afraid of toxins, lead & other nasty garbage in our children's toys. I am an advocate for soft, tactile play food that teaches good eating habits & care for the earth through play. What better way than to play with recycled post-consumer plastic bottles? http://bugbitesplayfood.etsy.com

Example #2: I use Cloth Diapers on my baby. This actually started out of desperation at the rising cost of diapers - $70 a month, money I thought could better be used elsewhere (flyfishing trips or buying orchids). Doing my homework on how to cloth diaper also enlightened me on how much damage conventional diapers really do. It is estimated that a child will go through 9,100 diapers in 2 1/2 years of diaper wearing. see Verybaby.com for more: http://verybaby.com/faq . Imagine the landfill space that one child's diapers takes up - by the way, conventional diapers DON'T biodegrate, especially when wrapped tightly & then placed in individually twisted sausage-sections of plastic bag. If only the Diaper Genie® magially made diapers decompose as well... PLUS disposables never look this cute! I found these darling diapers from monkeysnugglesdiaper at her shop on etsy: http://monkeysnugglesdiaper.etsy.com


Example #3: I use handmade Cloth Wipes on my baby. Figure the cost of cloth diapers plus the cost of wipes that just go in the trash - you might as well wipe your child's bum with a dollar bill each time & toss it in the trash... Reusable, cute & much sturdier than the thin, don't-wipe-too-hard-or-you'll-be scrubbing-ick-out of your-fingernails, store-bought wipes... need I say more? I found these adorable wipes from Bundled on http://bundled.etsy.com

Example #4: I use Cloth Lunch & Sandwich Bags. Again the cost of lousy ziplocs that just end up in the trash made me rethink the logic of ziploc. I make my sandwich bags with a nylon inner fabric & cute cotton prints on the outside. They work so much better, are easily washable, & take about 5 minutes to sew myself. These are from Britgaldesigns at http://britgaldesigns.etsy.com

Example #5: I use Cloth Feminine Pads. Okay, I am the biggest hippocrite in the world on this one. Growing up, I had never heard of such a thing & thought "eeeeew gross!" at first, wondering why anyone would ever try cloth menstrual pads. However, after finding out the hard way for years I never knew that I was actually allergic to plastic maxi pads, suffering each month from uneccesary infections & discomfort. Natural cotton is a million times better next to your skin than cancer-causing SODIUM POLYACRYLATE, DIOXINS, & TRIBUTYL TIN (TBT). Besides, if lovely, soft, natural cloth is good enough for my daughter's bum, why not mine? These cute pads are from an etsy seller named Pleat - see her shop here: http://www.pleat.etsy.com

Taking stock of some of my habits over the last year, I have come to the conclusion that I am inadvertently a serious advocate of "Green" living. We all would do better to improve our lives, pocketbooks & of course Mother Earth by switching from harmful, cancer-causing, chemical-laden plastics & synthetics to natural renewable fibers like cotton & bamboo. Go Green!

Tyler & Misty's Wedding

Congratulations to Tyler & Misty! We hope you have a wonderful life together - and thanks for giving us the opportunity to get all dressed up! We had such a great time at the wedding, which happened to be 2 days after our 7th anniversary (which was another great reason to dress up & have a party). Austin looked SO great in his tux, Aubrey of course was a little princess as always - and I even survived wearing my HEELS! No accidents, trips or even stumbles for me, which is a miracle, as I have never worn heels before (even at my own wedding)!

Our very favorite was seeing Ethan in his tuxedo! He was the ring-bearer, & in anticipation for this we have spent months getting him ready for this big day. Usually Ethan is shy & gets embarrassed easily when too many people are watching him - to the point of rage, actually - so, needless to say we had been worried how he would do walking down the aisle with all eyes on him. It is funny what you stoop to as parents to get your children to do really important events - bribery, extortion, even blackmail has no limits in situations like these. We convinced Ethan that he was a "Super Spy" & that his "mission" was to get the ring on the pillow safely to Uncle Ty. Knowing that he would be self-conscious of the audience, we convinced him (forgive me the little white lie) that his cufflink was an "invisibility button" that turned him invisible to all. We had great fun practicing this before the big moment, & I am so happy to say that Ethan did magnificently! He did such a great job that he earned a Wii game from Grandpa Charlie & Grandma Dona - Ethan must have known he did a stellar job, because the first thing he said after the ceremony was "where's my game?" He didn't let go of it the whole night & delighted in smacking uncle Tyler in the butt with it during wedding photos - thats why we were smiling so much!

Needless to say, Tyler was handsome & of course Misty was gorgeous - she should definitely consider a career as a wedding planner if her dreams of a doctor fall through - everything was so beautiful. Congrats guys!

New Digs

Breaking news: We MOVED! For those of you who have heard me gush about our new house, I apologize that this may get repetetive... WE LOVE IT!!!

We are so surprisingly happy here in Orem, us Country Mice from da hills is loving dis big city life - well, the suburban life anyway. Funny how life alters your decisions when circumstances change - Austin & I swore we'd never move to the valley again if we could help it, convinced that life in Wallsburg was everything we wanted for our family... wow, things have changed. No more driving 30 minutes to get to the store, being stranded with no where to go (as I didn't have a car), no more hearing Ethan cry "Mommy, I need a friend!" (he has SEVEN friends now!), no more dark-basement living (though we will miss Mom & Dad). So although we will terribly miss our wide open beautiful little valley - which we will always call home, we are really loving it here.

Our house is a really cute (big 1200 sq ft) upper level 3 Bedroom, 1 bath, split level home. We have so much space, we don't know what to do with ourselves! Who knew that you could actually have empty cupboards in your kitchen because there wasn't stuff to put in it? We actually have a bathtub for the kids & room enough to play fun games & our Wii without injuring each other. I love the office where I can escape when things get too crazy.

We live in the perfect location, as we are a block away from a huge park, library & shopping. Ethan will go to school just a few blocks away & Austin's work is only 3 miles down the road, so he has been riding his bike to work most days (chalk up 12 miles of bike riding for Austin each day!) I swear our car is going to petrify from non-use. We are walking everywhere now & loving it.

As you can tell, we are just giddy with our happiness. Moving has been the best thing for our family. Did I mention WE LOVE IT!!! So, here is your standing invitation: Come PLAY with us!!

Fantastic Excitement!

We have excellent news!! After MONTHS (dare I say years?) of waiting, Austin has finally got a great full-time position at his job... sooooo, with the tremendous prospects of a stable-high paying-benefit-including position - we are MOVING!!!! I can't tell you how long we have waited for this news! Well, actually I can - but "nickel & diming" it down to the exact day & hour would be a bit obsessive, so lets just call it over 18 months of waiting! I am so excited, I might just wet myself... Can you tell I am obscenely giddy with happiness??

We have been apartment shopping & think we have found a great apartment to rent - it is a cute HUGE upstairs level of a house in Orem that is next to a park, church, shopping & KIDS for Ethan to play with - happy me! We will know if we can move in sometime this week, so I'm sure you will see another gushing blog post about it soon!

Shameful Neglect...

Wow, it has been 2 months! Life has been in the way & I'm not sure why I haven't taken the time to post. So, here's what's going on with our fun little family..
Since January, Austin has started his Master's Program at Argosy University in Draper, & is loving it! He works really hard & has great professors whom he loves. We love Argosy because they specialize in Psychology & have an incredible Marriage & Family Therapy program with the best licensure in the state - plus Austin's classes are once every 3 weeks, so we get to see him tons more than before, so good things all around!

I have been really busy with our family, kids & my little business. Things have been really busy with my etsy shop & I have been selling lots of play food. I have been getting several stores wanting to buy my play food, including a Children's Museum in Saratoga Springs, NY, a cute little shop in Ohio & an online Baby Boutique called minimebabygear.com.

We have been having a lot of fun & going on a lot of family outings to the Zoo, Discovery Gateway & the Living Planet Aquarium. Ethan especially loves the stingray exhibit where he got to touch the rays! He was a little timid at first, but loved it as soon as Daddy showed him how. He likes how they feel like slippery, Jell-O. We are also loving our daily walks down the road in our new Jogging stroller, which the kids like & I LOVE!!! We are all doing well & so excited for Spring!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Happy Birthday little Aubrey!
I can't believe how fast this year has gone - I'm working on inventing a time-freezing machine that can be used to slow down childhood, so we as parents can enjoy the stages of our little ones a bit longer. Trouble is, I can't decide which stage I have enjoyed the most - we have had so much fun with each moment of Ethan & Aubrey's lives.
We had a fun day - Aubrey loved the attention from Big Brother, Mom & Dad, Uncle Ty & Auntie Misty, Grandparents & Great Grandparents. She is such a delight - our little actress. So outgoing & absolutely loves to perform for anyone watching. Her favorite is waving "hi" to everyone.

I had a lot of fun making her cake. It was very "girly" - just like her, with butterflies & flowers. I should open up a bakery someday. Cake is just like clay, but so much tastier! Aubrey's favorite part of the day (& ours) was putting hats on her head - whether bows or birthday cake, she doesn't care. I wish it was socially acceptable to smash cake on my head too... It's been a wonderful year & we look forward to more adorable "firsts" with our little Pink Princess.

25 Random things about Becca

I was tagged in Facebook & had so much fun, I wanted to share the post with everyone. So, I tag YOU! Once you've been tagged you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag me back please, because I want to know more about you.

25 random things about me:

1. My oldest sister & Austin's parents are the same age - does that make Austin weird, or me?
2. I love to paint with watercolors & would do it every day if I had the time.
3. I regularly get my butt handed to me in chess by my husband, but am able to beat him if I fight dirty.
4. I love Futurama - it is the funniest show I have ever seen.
5. If I had super powers, I would want to fly & be able to read people's minds.
6. I love to watch people. I don't naturally interact well with others, but am fascinated by watching them.
7. I am terrified of centipedes - even small ones. Working on a Hawaiian papaya farm with "finger-thick" centipedes will do that to you
8. I cant drink milk, eat Chinese food, red meat or pork - they make me barfy.
9. I would swim every day if I could. I plan on having my own pool someday.
10. I have a bizarre love of toe socks.
11. I love ferrets & will have a dozen some day.
12. I regularly stumble over & twist my words. I absolutely can't say words like "buck futter" (from Saturday Night Live) or "have a pheasant-plucking day" - I get into big trouble!
13. I am absolutely head-over-heels, completely, irrevocably, & utterly in love with my hot sexy husband!
14. If I could invent anything, I would invent a time-freezing machine so I could enjoy stages of my kids a little longer - they grow way to fast for me.
15. I want to be a painter when I grow up.
16. I was a pitcher in softball for 9 years when I was younger.
17. I grew up with boys & am a huge tomboy - though my girlfriends now that I am older are definitely the best!
18. I never eat junk food, soda or candy - except really good gourmet dark chocolate.
19. I gave birth to my two children at home with no drugs, I had a fabulous midwife & Austin delivered both of our children - he's good at catching!
20. Orchids are my favorite flower, but I can't have them in my current house because our salty water kills them - as I've proven at least 14 times so far. I have to endure the silk ones for now.
21. If I could go back to college, I would study Dietetics & become a Nutritionist.
22. I would love to live in Montana
23. I suffer from severe "buyer's remorse" & regularly put items back before checking out or return them - even if I need them, because I can't handle the sticker shock.
24. I love being outdoors - biking is my therapy.
25. I am extremely shy & hate walking into a room full of people.

I can't wait to hear from you!