Park Days

I've never had a real reason to go to the park every day during springtime. And I don't have a habit of jumping on the tramp. But this year, the spring weather means LOTS of it!

This is the park by Noah's house in St. George. Lucky for us, we have spent some time there lately, and the sun shone so nice and warm!

Mary made a friend...

And check out what is peeking out from under her dress, right there ^.

**** This past weekend I talked to my 3 older sisters who all live in warmer climates than I do. One just got sunburned at the beach (I feel SO bad for you Michelle)

One just spent the day at the outdoor pool and played soccer (did you get sunburned too Juls?)

And Becca spent the entire week outdoors with her kids, hiking and being adventurous.

Oh, and to top it off, Mom and Rachel get home tonight from a week in the Caribbean.

Just when I got excited about 50 degrees, I felt a stab of jealousy for sun-kissed skin and swimming. HOW many months until summer????****

wedding photos

Per request, if you want to see more pictures from Chris and Kimmy's wedding that I was bragging about... check them out HERE through their blog.

Aren't they somethin?

One Year Old... one month late

February 8, Mary turned 1.

Her party started without her. Apparently she was too exhausted from the wedding the day before, and took a very long nap. When she FINALLY woke up, after dinner and half-way through the Super bowl, this is how she felt...

Mary didn't want her dinner. She didn't want her presents. 10 adults gathered around her high chair and sang her happy birthday... which sent her into a fit of terrified tears. Her nose began to run, her head felt hot, and she just wanted me to hold her. Poor girl went to bed early, with no cake. She wouldn't have anything to do with it.

The next morning (which was her true birthday), the house was empty. Her new toys were waiting for her...

I felt hopeful that today would be a better day. And so did she.

The little girls across the street came and brought her balloons.

She discovered a left-over cupcake (but she didn't want to hold it and eat it herself)

And we finally got a smile. Happy Birthday Mary Mae!

***Mary's partying caught up with her... and the rest of us. Whatever it is that is going around, we got it. And poor Mary's turned into double ear infections. Happy to report, we bounced back to full health.***

Wedding Festivities...

Jon's brother Chris married his darling Kimmy this month. Kimmy and Chris planned a gorgeous wedding, down to the very last details. It was amazing. The happy couple made their wedding fun to be a part of, and we are glad to welcome Kimmy as part of the family.

Mary's favorite part of the day was her gold purse (well she only carried it because it was full of goldfish crackers), and doing her "cheesy face" for the camera where she scrunches up her nose and shows her 4 little gopher teeth.




It was fun to see family, especially those who travelled from California to be there. It was fun for us to have Uncle Kelley stay with us, and to see Jon's grandparents and cousins. We love them, and wish that we could see them more often. Couldn't Southern California be a little less of a drive? I think we would all benefit. Congratulations Chris and Kimmy!

Toddler

It's the truth. My baby is a now officially a toddler... she learned how to crawl properly, then walk all within the last 2 weeks. Mary walks! I cried. Not because I'm sad, but because I can't believe my baby is growing up... it all happens so fast. It seems like just yesterday, Mary was a tiny little newborn.

This past week I had the privilege of holding two precious new babies, my niece, Nellie, and my nephew, Nixon. I thought that once I had my own kids, I wouldn't love my nieces and nephews like I used to, but that is not true. Newborns are so precious, so fresh from God, and so pure. These little babies are miracles in and of themselves... Juli has been through so much to get them here, and they are blessings from God. Now the work isn't over, just because they are here. I saw firsthand how much care and time they require, and I think my sister is a saint. Through all of the craziness, there is a special feeling of love and peace in their home. Those little ones have definitely blessed my life, and they are less than a week old!

Expectations

Before I got to motherhood, I thought that it was weird when moms narrated their babies' thinking.

I thought that it was kind of sick when moms let their kids have messy faces all the time.

I thought that it was interesting how moms talked to their kids like adults, when they clearly didn't understand a word they were saying.

I vowed never to play that annoying Barney music with children chanting in my car.

I thought that I would do her laundry separately from mine, and that she would use her own bathroom.

Oh and I would not have crumbs and food smashed in every crevice of my car.

Confession... I've done all of these this week. And I am not even ashamed. I shouldn't claim that this is a confession. It's just a realization that I am being the mom that I thought I never would be.

I guess that's what this little laugh will do to a person...

And when she's on the move... she's all I'm thinking about. When when she's not on the move, she's all I'm thinking about. It's ALL about HER.

And being her mom is worth all of the raised eyebrows I get, (or give to myself) in the moments when I don't believe I'm actually carrying around a dirty diaper in my bag, without realizing it. (so nasty.)

"Never Trust Technology"

About five years ago I took a trip to Vegas with my sisters and my mom. We had a great time together, for the most part. We stayed in a nice hotel, went swimming, shopping, out to eat, and even went to a Celine Dion concert (AMAZING!).

But, as you can imagine, five women come with five sets of... opinions.... and hormones, (not to mention any names, it was all of us, really... but one of us was pregnant, one of us did have a boyfriend fighting forest fires, two of us were teenagers, three of us were extremely hormonal at that time...) You get the picture.

Along the way, we relied upon the internet for driving directions. As we carefully followed them step by step, we felt further and further from our desired destination. As it became apparent that we were lost, Mom brought out the phrase that we have quoted ever since, as she tried to give us a serious teaching moment...

"Well girls, this is proof... YOU CAN NEVER TRUST TECHNOLOGY." She proceeded to drive directly to our destination on instinct alone.

However untrue her phrase may seem for the most part, there are times when I feel their truth.

December 9, 2009... I took a big gamble and picked out a watch for my dear husband's Christmas gift. It was only available online, but shipped within a week's time. I worried over my choice day and night, but when the package arrived on my doorstep 8 days later, I was excited. I opened the box to find a watch that looked entirely different from the one that I ordered. ENTIRELY different.

Fearful that it may be too late to receive the correct watch, frustrated and disappointed, I called Customer Service. It wasn't long until the gentleman on the other end clearly understood the depth of my distress. He promptly assured me that he would get me the correct watch before Christmas, overnight, in fact.

Well, 3 days later (not overnight) I received package #2 on my doorstep. Inside, the watch that I found looked oddly familiar. Familiar for the wrong reason. It was identical to the wrong watch they sent me the first time. Okay. Now I'm angry. Really? Again? It's December 21st.

Jab (that was her name) at Customer Service described to me, in detail, what the watch would look like that she was going to overnight to me... blue leather band... blah blah blah. Her description matched the watch I had ordered, and she understood clearly how upset that I was in receiving the wrong watch twice. She heard this was my husband's only Christmas gift from me. I THOUGHT she understood.

Watch #3 appeared on my doorstep December 23rd.

IDENTICAL to the first two. Strike three.

My mother's words, " you can NEVER TRUST TECHNOLOGY," rang in my ears loud and clear. Sometimes you can trust technology. It helps us with a lot of things. But this Christmas, I learned the hard way that indeed, you can't always trust technology.

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Note: I NEVER received the correct watch. I don't recommend using MACY'S online. To anyone. EVER.

Other than the watch mishap (which we are obviously still recovering from) we had a GREAT Christmas.. did you?