Eight Months and 24 lbs of Cuteness!

Victoria is eight months old now- actually she has been for a few weeks, but here we are just posting these. Matt's awesome sister, Raegan, took these pics of Tori . She does beautiful work and was so patient with all of our fussiness. Victoria was not in a photography kind of mood, so although we don't have any huge grins here, I think they turned out pretty wonderful. We tried to do some of she and Daphne together, but Tori was pretty much done by then, so we didn't get too many of them together. I can't decide which one of Victoira to hang on the wall, so I'm going to number them and I need your votes! (Numbers are above the pics) Thanks!
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5. This one will probably be hung in a small print, but vote on one of just Victoria for me!

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a great Valentine's this year- we decided to try to make it more of a family affair- so for our FHE before the big day, we had everybody make little Valentine bags and talked about how much we love eachother- then everybody was supposed to write at least one Valentine note/picture for someone every day and put it in their bag. Soon Valentine's Day in the afternoon, we exchanged our little bags. The kids loved it and it was a really fun literacy activity as well as a little encouragement and self- esteem boost for them. They wrote and drew really cute little Valentine pictures and messages for Matt and me as well.

We decided to make our traditional Saturday morning whole wheat pancakes a little more festive today, so here is a picture of my little sleepy heads at breakfast:

Valentine's Day with small children seems to change things, so we decided to evolve with it. We asked our niece, Sydney, to babysit for us during the girls' naptime so that we could actually try and catch a movie. But alas, Victoria ( thick in the throws of Separation Anxiety) sensed the loss of my presence and woke up early. She screamed hysterically until I left the movie halfway through and came home to rescue her! I took her back to the theatre and tried to watch from the wings, but her delightful squeals and babbles of "DaDa DA DA DA" were a little too conspicous. We decided to wait out in the hallway. Matt tried to leave and join me but I made him go back in so that he could tell me how things wrapped up. We took Victoria to an early Valentine's Day Dinner and then made it home to our little munchkins. It really was nice to have dinner with just Matt and the baby- it's amazing how our idea of a night out includes the baby- I'm usually happier if she is with us and it's a pleasant change of pace just to have a conversation that isn't interrupted 50 times. I hope y'all had a wonderful love- day as well!

Happy 7th Birthday, Isaac!

Seven years ago, Matt and I embarked on an amazing journey together: we became parents! At 2:40 pm, we were blessed with the most beautiful baby boy ever to grace this earth, in my humble opinion. God sent Isaac to us on February 10, 2002 in a most miraculous way. I suppose that babies are born every day, but I know that each one of those births is an absolute miracle. I have never felt the Holy Spirit more strongly than when I partnered with God in bringing one of His children to this earth. Isaac's birth was remarkably like his personality- steady and predictable, relatively mellow (compared to the births of his sisters!) Isaac is an amazing boy and I truly thank God every single day tfor the wonderful blessing of being his mom. Some of my favorite things about Isaac:
He loves to help people.
He is quick to obey.
Isaac has a repentant heart- he feels true sorrow when he makes a bad choice.
Isaac's laugh is one of the best and happiest parts of my life.
Matt and I gave Isaac a snowboard for his birthday, which he loves! Matt took him up to Snow Basin so they could try it out and he was so great! Here are a few pics:

Isaac wanted to go to the new Chuck E. Cheese right by our house for his birthday, so off we went! I haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese since I was a kidand I must say, it was not as cool as I remembered. Isaac and Daphne had an absolute blast, though! Happy Birthday, Isaac! We love you.

You want me to eat what?

Victoria does not like baby food. At all. We have tried a wide variety of items: Rice Cereal, Oatmeal, carrots, bananas, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, applesauce, pears... all to no avail. She usually takes a few bites and acts like she is going to gag. Then she figured out how to bend her head over and spit the food out! If she's in a really contrary mood, she will just press her lips together as tightly as possible and twist and turn and try to squirm her way out of her chair. Here are photos from a few attempts:

She is not completely adverse to solid foods, however. Items she has enjoyed: Lasagna, Cool Whip, Raspberry Danish filling, Sparkling Cider and Oatmeal Cookies. Usually, these are things she manages to stick her hand in and then lick her fingers clean with glee. I did give her the Cool Whip: I've never seen her so excited about anything. It's kind of funny- I'm so laid back about it all with number three. I know she'll eat eventually. I never would have let Isaac taste sweets. Somehow, it just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Or maybe I'm just too exhausted to care.

Either way.. we love her to bits!

Dancing Queen- more pics!

Daphne's Dance Recital was January 17th! She was great!
Here are a few photos from the night! I let Daphne wear a little lip gloss and she was so wonderful. I asked to take her picture and she went over by the wall and stood like this:

After the recital, I said, "You danced so beautifully!" She looked disappointed and said, "I forgot to have stage fright." Then they gave her candy and she was happy again.

This is my first attempt posting video, so I hope it works! Daphne is on the front row, furthest one on your right. We were a little frustrated because her teacher moved to a different place from where she had been at their dress rehearsal, so for the first little bit she is looking for her teacher. She does great after that. Watch to the very end- that is the funniest part! Okay, unfortunately you can't really see it on Blogger, but at the very end, Daphne flits off the stage as quickly as she can; meanwhile, they cut the lights and Daphne plows over a little girl trying to (more appropriately) walk off the stage. Then there is a big thud. Priceless.

More Christmas Pictures!

My mom (aka GiGi) came to visit on New Year's Day. We had a lovely time and she got some great photos with her new camera!
Matt, Isaac, and Daphne shoveling snow- love the team work!My angel, Isaac!

Daphne's sparkly fairy costime from GiGi...

Victoria is loving Christmas so far:

These two are from Cafe Rio, where we went to celebrate Mom's Birthday! I am in love with Cafe Rio- I would eat there at least 3 times a week if Matt let me. It keeps me sane in the Tex Mex free zone that is Utah!

Victoria loved Christmas! She was completely oblivious to all but the wrapping paper and, etc... but that was enough for her...

Victoria's First Christmas

Well, I figured I better get my Christmas pics posted before the Super Bowl or it would just be embarrassing. To be quite frank, I don't have very many Christmas pictures, partly because the majority of our Christmas was at Disneyland, but also because of the aforementioned camera disaster at Disneyland. We lost all the pictures from our Christmas Eve celebration from Nanny and Papa's. So, here are just a few pictures from our little celebration with my Mom. (She has some way cute pictures, so I will try to post them when I have them!) GiGi gave Daphne the cutest silver fairy costuem, which Daphne LOVED:
She also gave Isaac a few Star Wars books, which was apparently shocking to him!:

This was Victoria's first experience unwrapping gifts, and as predicted, she continued her love affair with paper by attempting to eat the ribbon, the wrapping paper, and evenutally, the paper itself. We know this is pretty standard six-month -old behavior, but it does not discount one ounce of the cuteness involved.

Now many of you know that while I will never win any 4H awards for home-making, I am pretty decent with cooking and cleaning and decorating, etc... I am however severely delayed in one specific arena of domesticity: my sewing skills. I could not sew one blasted thing. I had to have Matt sew the buttons back on my shirts. So, a few years ago, I was determined to figure this thing out and increase my skill set. I bought fabric to make Daphne's bedding for her room. Matt's mom and sister helped quite a bit, and eventually I had made ( with my own two hands) Daphne's bedding. I was quite proud of myself. So, although I am now moderately operational with a sewing machine, I still have not improved any of my mending skills. I set torn seams and lost buttons aside and my wonderful and very masculine husband fixes them whenever he can. We have the most measely sewing kit imaginable and Matt was using mix-matched thread, etc..., so my Mom stepped in and bought him a much nicer sewing kit for a little Christmas gift. My Hero!

The Wonderful World of Disney!

We had an absolutely magical time at Disneyland - it was positively wonderful.. We spent 3 days in the park and loved just about every minute of it! The drive down was somewhat treacherous because of the nasty Christmas snowstorm that came in on Christmas Eve. We decided to head out on Christmas Eve and drive through the night in order to get ahead of the storm, which we did for the most part. It was pretty slick and icy in some parts, but Matt was stalwart and cautious and the Lord helped us travel safely to California.


Our first day was probably the best day there. We got there right when they opened and the crowds were less intense that first day. We spent those three days in a whirlwind of fun. We tried really hard to plan our days and our traveling, much of which ended up being thrown out the window, however I was very grateful for out forthought and planning. If you have never been to Disneyland, do not walk in there without a plan or it will eat you alive. Okay, perhaps that is a little harsh, I mean we are talking about Disneyland, the happiest place on earth, right? However, if you want to get your money's worth, you need to plan! The whole place is such a spectacle that if you do not plan, you could easily get sidetracked and get to bed wondering what you did all day...
Anyway, so the first day was positively magical and we got some absolutely darling pictures. The next two days were also wonderful and we spent most of the third day waiting in lines to take pictures with different characters. We got to the Princess place right when they opened and waited patiently for Daphne's turn to meet and get autographs from Snow White, Cinderella, and Princess Aurora. We got all those things done and found ourselves there on the evening of our third day trying to finish last minute things that we wanted to see and do, as well as pictures we wanted to get. Matt and Isaac went over to California Adventure to ride some roller coasters , while I took Daphne and the baby to go meet Tinker Bell. We waited in the line, which wasn't terribly long,but the sun was setting and it was getting pretty dark. I was pushing the stroller, which was weighed down with bags and the cooler of snacks as well as everyone's coats. As we waited, we tried to get Daphne's autograph book and pen, and of course Victoria got hungry. So, I tried to calm her, watch Daphne, make a bottle and push the stroller through the line. I started feeding the baby and it came to be our turn to see Tinker Bell. So, I got out my extra hand (oh, wait, all my hands were already occupied) and found the camera. Pixie Hollow was so dark- there were teeny tiny little fairy flower lights along the walkway, but no lighting over head. My camera said that the memory was full. I should have thought of that- all our Christmas pictures and pics from Disney land were on there. So, I tried to delete a few so that I could get one of Daphne with Tinker Bell. I realized that this action was taking much longer than necessary and began panicking, "Oh no! Oh No! OH NO!" Sure enough I looked down and my camera said, "Card contains no Images" I accidentally deleted all the pictures on my camera!! You know me, always in such great control of my emotions- I immediately began sobbing. "They're....sob... all...sob... gone!" A young woman working there came over to me, "What happened? Oh dear- Can I do anything?" "No!", I cried "Everything is gone!!" I was so upset. I went ahead and took a picture of Daphne with Tinker Bell and the nice Disney worker, Alex, helped me out of Pixie Hollow with all of my things. She just kept apologizing over and over and asking how she could help. I felt bad for her. Clearly she wasn't used to such overt displays of emotion. Perhaps if she knew me better she would have been able to let it go. I really tried to calm down for her benefit. I could see that she wasn't going to let this go. Daphne began looking around the gift shops and showing me toys and trinkets, saying "Here Mommy, this will make you happy!" I felt a whole new wave of tears coming on as I absorbed the guilt for upsetting Daphne with my outburst. Honestly, I wish I could handle things with more grace sometimes. It was about this time that Alex said, "I really want to help you- Let me talk to some people and see what I can work out" I wasn't going anywhere, I was still holding Victoria and trying to feed her while mangaging the stroller and my exuberant 4 year old. While Alex was gone I was able to secure Tori in my baby wrap and get back into a moderate level of physical control of the situation. Alex then announced that she'd like to take us back over to Mickey's house so that we could meet him again and try to replace our pictures. It's a long line to do that, so this was very kind of her. Of course, Matt and Isaac weren't even in the same park as us, so I was only able to get a picture of Daphne with him:

Of course every time Alex went behind the scenes to arrange something, I would start thinking about all the lost pictures and my eyes would tear up again. We had the most darling candid shots wiht Minnie Mouse and we had waited so long to meet the princesses. After meeting Mickey, Alex offered to take us back to meet the princesses again and replace our pictures. There was such a long line and she took us right back to meet them. She was so kind!

Of course, this is the end of the third day, so Daphne looks about as ragged as can be- her hair has been through several roller coasters and a nap, but she was so happy to see the princesses again.

After meeting the princesses, Alex offered to run across the park and save us a fabulous spot to watch the holiday parade. At this point, I finally got a hold of Matt on the phone and told him to meet us for the parade. The kids had so much fun watching the parade and we saw just about every disney character imaginable. It was awesome. Alex had finally distracted me from weeping and seemed to feel confident enough to leave me at this point. She was so kind and generous and more than made up for the nightmare that was parking at Disneyland.

We then tried to run around the park and re-create our cute pictures with little cooperation from our very tired children. We look completely exhausted in these because well, we were completely exhausted. Not to mention my red eyes and swollen face.

Isaac and Daphne screaming about having to pose for a picture:

So as far as beautiful pictures from Disneyland go, our score wasa big ZERO. But we do have plenty of beautiful memories!

Lights at Temple Square

The same night of the Family Christmas Party, we took our children to Temple Square. They, (Daphne specifically) had been asking to go for quite some time and we promised them that we would take them there to see the lights around Christmastime. I must have been to Temple Square a half dozen times, but it still takes my breath away. It is positively beautiful, especially with all the Christmas lights. I loaded the pictures in the wrong order and they are a bit blurry, so bear with me....

Okay you can see the children and me with the Temple in the background....

This is the Assembly Hall from across the courtyard....

Here are Isaac and Daphne right next to the doors of the Salt Lake Temple.

Here are Isaac and Daphne looking at the nativity scene which floats atop the reflective pool- it is so gorgeous! There is another picture of this at the end. Daphne said that this was her favorite part of the whole night! Isaac said his favorite part was counting to 300 on the way to Salt Lake City. What can I say? He's a boy!

More lights!

The Salt Lake Temple

Nativity Scene- they also had the shepherds and sheep and angels, as well as another nativity scene with narration, etc... We all had a wonderful time and Victoria was completely enthralled with the lights! I probably won't post again for a while, so Merry, Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope that you have a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior!