Rachel's Birthday

Can you believe it? I sure can't. Our baby girl turned into a bonafide one-year-old on January 22. 

 I don't know why, but I thought she'd be into ripping wrapping paper by now. Nope. We all had to help her. This was the only present I wrapped for her. 

 Rachel is our electronics girl. She LOVES them! She has an amazing knack for finding any of the remotes and playing with them like mad, so we bought her her own. I wanted her to have it before Brian left for work since she kept fighting with Michael over his toy smart phone. I've never seen her so upset over someone taking/playing with a toy she wanted. 

 I wanted to do a cute photo shoot with her. It turned out okay. It was hard getting her to stay still for the picture. She kept wanting to play with my camera!

 We did cupcakes and no ice cream, since Rachel has some allergy issues. We're feeling good that she isn't allergic to milk, but just to be safe, we're putting it off for a month or so. She didn't know what to think about the cupcake on her tray with the candle on fire. And even though she's good at blowing, we still couldn't get her to blow out her candle. 

 She started out so daintily. 

 And then dived in. We thought it would get messy soon. 

 But then she went back to dainty. 

 More presents!

 The traditional First Birthday present: a box of tissues! By the time Brian got home and we had dinner, this girl was ready for her bed (she usually goes to sleep between 7 and 7:30). She was too tired to pull too many tissues out. We were all a little disappointed. 

 We thought since she likes crawling through small spaces, she would love this tunnel. Nope. We couldn't get her to go in. Like I said, she was done by then. We finally gave her what she wanted: her blanket and her crib.

Then, on Sunday, we had a birthday party with family. Since we never had a family party for Shayne's birthday (also in January), I frosted one of the cupcakes blue instead of purple, and we sang to him too.

 Note: Shayne didn't turn 47. Not this year, and he won't for another decade. I didn't have a "3" candle. We sang "Happy Birthday" Saville style. Rachel didn't know what to think about that. So, we sang it nicely. She cried after that.

 More presents!

 Thankfully, Nana and Papa gave her a box of tissues too, and this time, after a little coaxing, she pulled them all out, like a good little one-year-old. 

And, a few days later, we converted her to the tunnel. She loves it!

As of January 8, Rachel was officially weaned (and we are all amazed that we made it that long). She is now a happy formula baby--but only if that formula has strawberry Nesquik! On January 9, she finally started sleeping through the night. Her favorite things include:

• Her blanket (hot pink fleece on one side, white pink-flowered flannel on the other, and white crotchet along the outside. I made her this one)
• Being chased. If you're on the floor with her, and she thinks you're chasing her, she giggles and giggles
• Laughing. I think she gets this from her brother. I love hearing them giggling together. 
• Climbing over and crawling through things
• Music and dancing. Turn a song on and watch her shake it!
• Singing. Start singing, and she will join you!
• Looking at herself while I comb her hair. She wants to see what it looks like!
• Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Ethan, and Michael, not necessarily in that order. 

At her 12-month check-up, she weighed in at 16lbs, 14 oz (9th percentile, a record for her!), and was 27.5 inches long(4.6th percentile). 

She is the sweetest baby girl. We are so grateful to have her in our lives. Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

Sweet Hearts

About a month ago, I had a conversation with Michael that went something like this:

Michael: Mom, when I grow up, I'm going to marry Rachel.
Me: Michael, you can't marry Rachel because she's your sister.
Michael: Oh, well who can I marry then?
Me: You'll marry a girl who is not your sister, one who is your friend. A girl like Eva (the girl next door who happens to be one of Michael's best friends).
Michael: Okay, when I grow up, I'm going to marry Eva. 

 I can't remember if he told Eva that he was going to marry her when he grows up, or if Eva had a similar conversation with her mother (maybe both), but Eva is also convinced that when she grows up, she's going to marry Michael.

I guess we'll see. But, in the meantime, they make me smile:

Five Years (and Counting!)

Back in December, I was talking to my mom. I was really feeling worn down that Rachel still wasn't sleeping through the night. And I was hanging by a thread with the whole nursing thing. But we were actually talking about how she's working on revamping her living room. She said I should come up soon and help her figure some things out. I told her I'd come up for my anniversary if she'd watch my kids for the night so Brian and I could get a hotel and have a break. She said she'd do it. "Are you sure mom? Rachel isn't sleeping through the night and she won't take formula." She said she'd be fine; she'd had six kids. So, gratefully and excitedly, we planned our anniversary trip to Idaho. It seemed quite fitting to celebrate our five years back where it all began. 

We drove up to Idaho on our anniversary.  After visiting with my mom for a little bit and getting the kids' beds set up, we headed to Idaho Falls. We stayed in a hotel overlooking the Temple and the falls. We had dinner at the hotel and then headed over to the temple to do sealings. We even got to be in the same room we were married in (even though it has since been remodeled and looks totally different). After the temple, we got dessert to go from Chilis and headed back to the hotel to enjoy a night of uninterrupted sleep. 

Then, about 1:30 a.m., we were awakened by the obnoxious sound of our hotel phone going off. When Brian answered it, the front desk guy told him that our car alarm was going off. Brian got up, turned the alarm off, and went back to bed. And in my sleepy mind I laughed. So much for uninterrupted sleep! It's like we had a kid with us! About the time we fell asleep again, the phone rang again. Car alarm was going off. Brian went to turn it off. We went back to sleep. Then, about the time we fell asleep... yup, phone again. This time I answered it. I told the guy to just come get our keys. And I'd like to say I was really congenial about it, but I wasn't. Long story short, Brian and the front desk guy decided that the wind was probably shaking the car and setting it off, so the hotel let us park it right in front of the building so it was out of the wind. Apparently, it was just fine after that. Before we left the next morning, we took a picture of our little troublemaker:

And a few pictures of ourselves:

 And a few pictures to try to capture the coldness of the night: 

 And some more pictures of us:

 And then we headed back to my parents' house. I was worried that my mom would be grumpy that we were getting back so late (it was almost noon). But, when we walked through the door, she simply said, "We've decided to keep your children." Rachel, who had just started sleeping through the night the day before our trip and stopped nursing two days before our trip, slept soundly through the whole night. Michael did too. They were both sweet and wonderful. A few minutes later, Michael and my dad walked through the door. Michael was on top of the world. He'd been out helping Grandpa with something. (And they had a whole acre of undisturbed snow to play in).  Turns out the restful house was the one my kids were in!

 Oh well, we still had a great night, despite our attention-crazed car. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for taking such great care of our kiddos so we could have a night out. It was fantastic!

And, because I'm sappy like this, here's a video/slideshow to catalog our last five years of marriage (and our almost one year of dating.)



I'm so grateful for Brian. I couldn't have picked a better partner-in-crime or a better co-captain for the rest of my life. I'm looking forward to the next five years...and the infinite years to come after that!

Children's Museum

On January 3, we went to the Children's Museum with our preschool group. Brian was still off, so it was a very nicely discounted family outing. Michael's favorite part was the construction area. He was so cute in his hardhat and vest. 

Michael got to go to a class on nutrition while we were there. 

 We explored quite a few areas of the museum. Towards the end of the visit, I told Michael we would be leaving soon and asked if there was an area he wanted to visit before we left. He asked to go back to the construction area. Surprise, surprise!

We had a lot of fun. We're really looking forward to the Children's Museum at Thanksgiving Point's opening this spring since it is much closer than this one in Salt Lake.