Baby Photo Contest

You've may have heard already... but Zella is in a Baby Photo Contest with Masterpiece Images! 

They took a whole bunch of really cute pictures of her for free, and then I had to choose one to represent her for the contest... HARDEST THING EVER! They were all SO cute. 

The voting is going online now until this Friday Mar 27th. To vote you are required to give an email address, BUT they are ONLY used to regulate the voting. I promise you won't get any "Junk" mail from them. 

After the voting ends, they will take the top 10, and a panel of judges will choose the top 5: Grand Prize, 1st Runner Up, 2nd Runner Up, Cutest Boy, & Cutest Girl. The prizes include various gift certificates for baby/parents to enjoy, and so much more!

There are LOTS of really cute babies! So we need all the votes we can get:)
Everyone with an email in the house needs to vote!!! I've found once you've voted on a browser you need to open another to vote again with a different email... Every vote counts of course;)

Click HERE to vote for Zella!

Thank you SO much:)

I'll leave you with the link to view ALL the pictures they took:) There are quite a few, but you'll see why it was so hard to choose!! 
http://mpimages.smugmug.com/Children/2015-Children/Holli-Curtis-1/n-pJvj54

Curtis FHE || Part 1

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Prophet has counseled us to hold a weekly Family Home Evening or FHE. As a Church they have set aside Monday Night as the evening to have this Family Night. 

Since Jonathan and I have been married we have never been great at having a family night every week. I think this was because our schedules were always so hectic with school and work that it was hard to stay consistent. Now that we have Zella, I feel like having a FHE is even MORE important. I want us to get into the good habit now while she is young, because I assume it will only get harder as she gets older, and we probably add more kids to the mix. 

So we came up with a plan... Because we don't have a night of the week that will ALWAYS work for FHE, we made the commitment that every Sunday we would decided what night of the week we could hold FHE that week. I got a little chalkboard out, and then wrote out the day we would hold family night, along with what we would be doing. 

So far this is working wonderfully, and we have successfully held FHE 4 whole weeks in a row!!! Best record yet... I think.

However... I really wanted to include Zella in our FHE, while still having a meaningful lesson for Jon and I. With Zella only being 10 months, I've been having a hard time coming up with things that would engage her interest. So I thought I would share some of the things I have come up with, so all of you with young babies can have some ideas for FHE too!!!

We've been keeping the lesson short and simple... Zella's attention span is practically nonexistent! One thing she does LOVE is songs... So we sing a few Primary Songs... I found a fun app called "Children's Sing-Along" that has the Primary Songs with words and pictures. It is offered in the App Store, as well as the Play Store for the Android. You can purchase the entire Children's Song Book for $4.99 or the App Store offers a "lite" version with a selected # of songs. 

Then, of coarse, I've been trying to come up with some type of fun activity to include her... as well as a treat!

So here are the FHE Plans from the last 4 weeks...

Week #1

The Lesson was on "The Scriptures"

We sang Scripture Power!

I hid my Scriptures under a towel for Zella to find.

I also added little tabs for her to play with.

My Scriptures snap close 
so I wasn't worried about her tearing the pages.

I shared some of my favorite scriptures, 
and my testimony of them.

Here in Brigham City we are blessed 
to be just blocks away from the Temple.

So for our Activity all of us, including Mini, 
went on a walk around the Temple.

When we got home we enjoyed some Apples + Peanut Butter.
Then it was time to get Zella in the tub and ready for bed!

Week #2

This week Jon had the Lesson.

It was on Temples. 

We sang "I Love to See the Temple"

He read about Temples from the True to the Faith Book.

While he read I gave Zella some Temples to hold & look at.

After he was done reading about Temples
they built a Temple together,

and even put a little Angel on top:)

Zella just wanted to knock it over!

For our Activity I made some finger paints!

We made pictures to send to family & friends who live far away.

Zella only liked it a little awhile. 

The paint was edible, but had no taste.

I think that's why Zella wasn't too interested in it:)

As short lived as it was, it was fun!

Before that mess we had Peaches & Creme for a treat!

They were the yummy home canned peaches:)

We go to our local library regularly,
and they have a good selection of
Gospel related board books for the little kids!

So to end our FHE we read
"I Love to See the Temple" from the library.

Week #3

This Lesson was on the Sacrament.
We sang "Reverently Quietly"

I made a Sacrament Quiet Book for Zella,
and had just finished it.

So we read it for the first time,
then let Zella explore the pages while

 I read about the Sacrament and
the Covenants we make at Baptism
from the True to the Faith book. 

For our Activity we took a trip to the local Ice Cream Parlor.

We had a couple of coupons for free cones.

So for our treat we each got an ice cream cone,
And so did Zella!!

This was a first for her, and she LOVED it of course:)

Week #4

Dad taught the Lesson about Jesus Christ.

We sang "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam"

I let Zella see our Christus, 

and the first thing she did was give Him a kiss!!

Cutest thing ever:)

Dad read from The Living Christ,

Then we read another story from the library.

This one was called, "Stories of Jesus"

It told about how Jesus loved the little children, 

and even when He was tired...

He still wanted to hold and bless them. 

 For our Activity we Face-Timed with Cousin Roddy & Aunt Heather. 

They are living in Japan, so we love when we get a chance to chat.

Zella likes to try and give Roddy kisses.

And Roddy loves to watch Mini, and play "Sumo"
He also LOVES Zella! It is so sweet:)

After we got Zella to bed,
Jon and I shared a yummy treat all to ourselves!

Here is the recipe:)

Well I hope this gives you some simple fun ideas
to include your babies in FHE.
I love ALL the memories we are making together
as a family each week:)

We love including little Zella,
she brings such a sweet special spirit with her!

Sacrament Quiet Book

I wanted to make a Quiet Book for Zella about the Sacrament to keep her busy while instilling basic principles during Sacrament meeting.

I had seen a couple of examples on Pinterest of course, but didn't LOVE any of them... So I made my own plan, and set to work!

FIRST -- I am FAR from a pro when it comes to sewing. I basically can sew a straight line, and that's about as good as it gets... SO... The book is a little rough, but Zella LOVES it, and it is very entertaining for her... Then as she gets older hopefully she will start learning from it as well:)

So the Following is "Our Sacrament Quiet Book"

Cover-- My Sacrament Book 

        I got all my pictures at Seagull Book. I covered this one with vinyl. It was such a pain to sew that I decided to just laminate all the rest. I got a fabric pen and some white muslim to write on for all the reading.

First Page-- During the Sacrament We... Whisper, Fold Arms & Bow Head, Listen to the Pray.   Sing from the Heart!

             This is Zella's Favorite Page! The notes & treble were just iron ons I found at Walmart.

Second Page-- Partake of the Bread and Water

              The bread is batting and gives it that bread look. I put little beads for the water. Zella loves the touchy feely things.

Third Page-- Think about Jesus and what He did for Me.

             I made the little sacrament tray, you can zip it open and out comes a little piece of bread & cup of water:) Zella will kiss the picture of Jesus. It is SO sweet!

Fourth Page-- Jesus Loves Me and wants me to be HAPPY!

              Under each piece of felt is a picture of Jesus. The little girls smile is sewed on with some slack so it can go from a frown to a smile:) 

 Last Page-- Just a sweet picture!

 Even though my sewing skills are lacking... I like how it turned out and how interactive it makes the Sacrament for my little Zella!

Pretty Little Photo Shoot

With Little Z turning 9 Months old I wanted to have some pictures taken...

   So, my sweet friend Whitney came over early one morning and captured some of the most precious pictures of Zella in her nursery. I don't ever want to forget any of her cute baby features. They just grow up too fast, so you really can't have TOO many pictures! Thought this would be the perfect place to share some of my favorites with you: