Idaho Road Trip

On March 21, we loaded into our little car and headed up to Idaho. Some of us may or may not have sucked our toes for quite a bit of the way. 

 Some of us were a little squished. Us grown-ups weren't excited about the drive in the cramped quarters, but we sang Disney songs at the tops of our lungs and made the most of it. (Shout out to Ethan for being so awesome back there with the kiddos!)

 But, we were pretty excited to hang out at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Some of us caught up on some reading.

Some of us had so much fun playing with cousins that we weren't around for anyone to take pictures of us. 

Saturday, all of us went to the baptism of Wyatt by his father. As always, it was a very spiritual experience. I love it when ordinances are performed. You can always feel the spirit of the Lord in such abundance.

 My dad performed the confirmation.

 Ethan carried all the bags.

  After the baptism, one of us disappeared to play with Wyatt some more. We were all happily chatting in the house when we heard screaming approaching. Michael came in. Brian saw his face and said, "Holy Cow!" To which Michael, though his screams, sobbed, "Can I see it in the mirror?" 

 Michael walked into Wyatt's swing of the baseball bat. This picture doesn't even do it justice.

After all that, we decided that making dinner was for the birds. There is a pizzeria in Ririe that is fairly new, and they offer a 32" pizza. We decided that we needed to try that out. It was pretty big!

And fairly good. I'm still a Pizza Hut gal. 

 We went to church the next day, ate dinner, and then hit the road again. Rachel didn't even make it to Ririe before she fell asleep. Michael made it to almost Pocatello.

I wish I could say that they slept the whole way, but that didn't happen. We had a great short trip, despite the cramped car. When we got home, Michael said, "I wish we lived with Grandma and Grandpa." "Why?" I asked, thinking "be careful what you wish for". He said, "Because Grandpa always gets me donuts." There it is everyone--the secret to really winning Michael over!

St. Patrick's Day

On St. Patrick's Day, we woke up to this:

  A leprechaun came in the middle of the night and messed up our living room! He left us a note:

 Michael thought it was pretty cool. He needed a little help figuring out the map that the little man left. But eventually, he found the pot of gold. It had another note inside:

 Michael ate all those coins by the time the day was out. 

 For dinner, we had green eggs, potatoes O'Brien, green pancakes, and bottle creme soda, because when else do you have an excuse to buy bottled soda?

Luck O' the Irish be upon you all!

Itty-Bitty Ball

For six mornings in the beginning of March, Michael went to Itty Bitty Ball in Lehi. He learned about five sports: baseball, volleyball, football, basketball, and soccer. He had a blast going to "bitty-bitty ball". 

 Rachel was a trooper through each hour session. She clapped with me for her brother and enjoyed lots of crackers. 

 I only took my nice camera one day, because I'm awesome. It was their picture day. It was also the day they learned about volleyball. 

Side note: I had to laugh that they were having "team pictures" for this. I'd be surprised if Michael knew any of the other kids' names, let alone his coach. Oh well. I didn't pay for it; just took one with my camera :)

The last day they just played the whole time. In addition to the sports they learned, they got to play with this huge parachute. It was pretty awesome. 

At the beginning of each day, the lady in charge led them all in stretches and then some sit-ups, push-ups, and jumping jacks. There is nothing like watching a bunch of preschoolers to appreciate how much coordination it takes to do those things. It was so cute watching them try to do the push-ups and especially the jumping jacks. Let the soccer mom years begin!

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, Lea was kind enough to watch my kiddos so that I could go and have a lunch date with Brian. We ate at Gloria's Little Italy, and got to sit at "Our Table". (Yeah, we've eaten there only twice, sat at the same table by the window both times. It's officially our table. It's next to a window on University Avenue, and I can see the Provo Center temple construction. It's a great table). After lunch, we went to Smith's to get balloons for the kids, and then went back to Brian's office to tie the candy that I bought for them onto the balloons.  When Brian came home after work, the kids were SO excited for their balloons and goodies. Rachel had her first sucker:

We made pink heart-shaped pancakes for dinner.

And spent the rest of the evening just hanging out with our kiddos. 

This year, we felt so much love from grandparents for our kids. My parents sent chocolates for Michael and a little bear for Rachel:

Brian's parents mailed them both cards. Michael loved getting something in the mail. 

We were also blessed with a very special Valentine's Day package from Michael & Rachel's newly adopted grandparents in Kansas, Grammie Bobbie and Papa Joe. They sent letters for Michael and I, a card for the family, a semi-truck for Michael, and a little doll for Rachel. 

Michael was in heaven!

And Rachel loved snuggling her new baby. We felt so loved and remembered. We're so blessed to have so many people loving on our family!

Sickies

On the evening of February 1, we noticed that both Michael and Rachel had rotten little coughs. We decided that we should probably keep them home from church. It was more as a precaution for the other kids. Michael handles his illnesses like a champ, rarely letting anything slow him down. Well, the next day (Sunday), we sadly watched our little boy lying around the house, not moving or saying much. Not complaining, but obviously not his typical Michael self. Rachel was a little cranky, but we gave her medicine to help her. At one point, Brian was cuddling with Michael, reading him books. Then, he passed him over to me. Michael was burning up! We checked his temperature and he was at 103 degrees! No wonder he was just laying around. We gave him some medicine, and by the next day, he was doing much better. 

But, Tuesday morning, Rachel was a lot worse. She was miserable--even though she had medicine in her system. She was completely inconsolable, had a horrible cough, and wouldn't sleep. As soon as the doctor's office opened, I called and made an appointment. As soon as the doctor heard her cough, he said, "Oh, I know what that is. Croup." Croup. Flashbacks to Anne of Green Gables and Anne administering Ipecac to Minnie Mae while everyone was at the Rally. Croup. No wonder my baby was miserable! He gave her a shot to help her breath better and said that cold wet air was the best thing for croup.

So, we went home, and invited Sam and her kids to join us on a walk since her kids were sick too. We bundled them up and headed out into the cold, wet weather.

And it started snowing on us while we were out. Thankfully, we had a plastic shield over the babies, so they stayed dry, and the other two just loved the ride. I'm sure anyone driving by must have thought we were terrible parents, but we were just following doctors' orders. And by the time the kids started feeling better, I'm pretty sure I got sick. Oh well, what do you do? It was the first time Rachel had ever been sick enough to go into the doctor, and he was impressed that she made it that long. Still, it was really sad having my babies sick. 

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!