Memorial Day & Father's Day in Pictures

He did it!

Hip, hip, hooray! Three cheers for Eric! I am very proud of him for sticking it out and obtaining a Master's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the U of U. We love you babe and are very thankful for all of your hard work and dedication.

One year old!

So, it’s been three fast-moving months since I last blogged and I can’t believe I’ve allowed myself this long to actually get to it! I’ve told myself at least a dozen times “oh, I’m going to blog about this” or “I’ll have to remember to include that in my blog about Gigi turning one”. By now, I’ve probably forgotten many things that I was supposedly making a mental note of, but at least I can finally get out the few things I actually have kept note of and make room for more mental notes in my ever-crowding brain!
Doesn’t it sometimes feel like you really do have an amazing collection of information in your head but it’s just so hard to figure out where you’re storing it all or how you sorted it to begin with? Was it alphabetical or categorical? Perhaps even chronological? And that is why we have computers; to have someplace to sort it out. Or was it the computers that caused my brain to get so rusty and out of shape in the first place? I feel like this blog entry is turning into a fine submission for Eric’s newsletter, “Ravings of Mad Man,” lots of rambling with a few good philosophical questions.
So let’s go back in time to February 2010. It started out to be a delightful spring this year with several very warm, sunny days. I thought surely the groundhog must not have seen his shadow thus leading us into an early spring. Boy was I wrong. Apparently, the six weeks of winter that are normally experienced in February and early March were just delayed… until May! But we didn’t let that stop us from having a rip-roaring springtime. I made a few digiscrapbook pages to commemorate our February fun. Gwyneth had her first real “playdate” with Jack Harris. We’ve already worked out the arrangements of their marriage and have started to build up Gwyneth’s dowry.
In March, we welcomed a new nephew/cousin, baby Dax, to the family. Dax is a handsome little fella but from the looks of him, I’m pretty sure Mahina was a surrogate for Andria’s egg, which does make the whole situation a little weird! J/K He does look like one of Andi’s kids, so it’s a good thing Andi’s kids are so darn cute! It’ll be fun to see him and Eme grow up and watch if they end up looking more or less alike.
I also caught the baking bug and made lucky green velvet baby cakes for St. Patty’s Day (which for some reason I find absolutely enchanting...the holiday, that is). Then, my friend Meg and I decided it would be fun to try these cinnamon roll sugar cookies we found on picky-palate. It was a semi-disaster with lots of fun memories and a few really great cookies to show for it in the end.

This is me during Meg's and my baking disaster. I'm trying to get the dough out of the inside of the mixer. I need a better mixer apparently.

Meg and I showing off the finished product. Some frosted, some fresh out of the oven.

The finished product, frosting and all. They really do look like cinnamon rolls but in a flatter cookie form. Next time, I think I'll just make snickerdoodles with cream cheese frosting though!

These are me lucky green velvet baby cakes. Ummm... so good! Mini cupcakes are perfect because they are bite size and contain a great frosting to cake ratio.

Our first visit to see baby Dax. At least next to him Gwyneth looks somewhat big, at least, big-ger.

In April, we celebrated Gwyneth’s 1st birthday! I think this verse from a popular country song about says it all, “So glad we made it, look how far we’ve come my baby.” – Shania Twain. Classic.
There were times I thought I might die from exhaustion by only getting 4 hours of sleep at night, night after night after night. There was a month or so where about 10 times a days, I experienced a sharp shooting pain through my entire nervous system for a few minutes as Gigi would start feeding. I’m talking curl-your-toes, electric-shock-therapy pain! There were times Gigi must have thought that if she just screamed longer or louder her parents would love her more, so she screamed as loud and long as her little body could. There were times I spent entire days doing absolutely nothing more than feeding, changing, comforting and putting Gigi to sleep only to have the whole cycle begin again the next day… Oh, and cleaning out several dozen poop blowouts (it really is gross, even when it’s your own kid.) There were times when I really resented Eric for being able to go to school and work while I stayed at home. There were times when Gwyneth got into things she wasn’t supposed to, and before you knew it, a whole roll of toilet paper was strung throughout the house or a whole bowl of dog food was floating in the dog water, minus the few pieces she was hiding in her mouth. There were times I thought I was the worst parent in the world when finding her holding a sharp kitchen knife… in her mouth, or trying to operate a pair of scissors… on her finger. There were times when she was just plain a little stinker! And then there were times, so many times, when she was perfect and I couldn’t have been happier with anything or anyone else in the whole wide world. I guess its true what they say, no pain, no gain. I guarantee it was a mother who originally coined that phrase.
What’s Gigi been doing for the past couple of months? Well, she’s been walking like little Frankenstein’s monster since about February. She eats such an immense variety of foods very well. She has an appetite like you would not believe, especially given her tiny stature. Her favorite foods are definitely sweet fruits like grapes and berries. She also loves chocolate milk, yogurt and cheese. She sleeps so well and truly loves her crib. For the most part, she lays down and immediately shuts her eyes when we put her in it and wakes up happy, babbling and playful. She is quite the babbler, in fact, and has “uh-oh”, “mama”, “dada”, “hi”, “hello”, and “what’s that?” down pat, along with a variety of whines, shrieks, and wails. She drinks out of straws and sippy cups but still hasn’t given up the pacifier. She loves to play games and, in fact, started hiding herself from us with her blanket spontaneously one day, spawning a love for “peek-a-boo”. She is very active, curious, social, playful, coy, flirtatious, and controlling. She was steering the shopping cart the other day at the store (I was holding her at the level of the handle because I couldn’t keep her seated in the cart no matter how tight I made that worthless belt) but every time I would place my hand on the handle to help steer she would immediately swat my hand away and start yelling baby swears at it. It was kind of cute, but unbelievable, that she’s already doing the “I-can-do-it-by-myself” thing. She’s definitely going to be Miss Independent, so I need to enjoy all the hugs and snuggles while they’re still coming pretty easily. Oh, and one last thing, she’s recently entered the stage where no one can touch mom but her. Just tonight as she was eating dinner, I hugged and kissed Eric goodbye and she broke up in tears just like that. We stopped hugging, and the tears stopped. So he hugged me again and just like that, instant cries! We went back and forth like that teasing her a few times before I really did have to leave. It’s quite nice though, belonging to someone like I belong to Gigi. I’ll belong, as long as she’ll have me.

These are shots from her 1-yr-old photo shoot. Grandpa Noisy takes great pictures. Thanks!

The Birthday Party!!

Gigi's barn cake with animal cupcakes. Homebaked the night before the party. I was very pleased with how it turned out and happy to have Meg's help baking the night before. She claims she just watched and didn't do anything but her tips were invaluable.

I love the lips as she's sizing up the cupcake.

The first cautious touch... this is too good to be true.

Gigi's party was farm-themed, complete with red wagon rides through the kitchen. James is hugging Gigi, Lily is hiding. She did not want her picture taken. We women obviously come by that naturally!

Gwyneth & Cash

This is me being creative with my new digital scrapbooking software that Eric gave me for Christmas! Starting in January, I began babysitting my neighbor's son, Cash, on Tuesdays and Cash's mom, Mindie, watches Gwyneth on Mondays. I also am watching another neighbors kids, Austin & Brooklyn, on Wednesdays and that neighbor watches Gwyneth on Thursdays! Its working out okay so far but it keeps me super busy! Anyway, here's some cute photos of Gwyneth and her new buddy.

Free photo session giveaway!

My friend Wendy has a photography business that is currently running a giveaway. If you'd like to see details click here. This promotion ends on January 3rd so if you're interested hurry and enter now! Good luck!

Gigi's got the clap...

Eric and I noticed for the first time today that Gigi has learned how to clap. I'm not sure how she learned this but I have a hunch that she decided today would be the day when she realized the Utes were playing. Anyway, she practiced clapping tonight for about an hour while we were at Tim & Brittany's house watching the Poinsettia Bowl. She's a born Ute!

BYU game with the Winders

Today I stayed indoors during the big snowstorm and Eric came home early from work! Then we spent the evening with the Winder family, which if you know the Winders you know that you never leave their house without a full stomach and a happy heart! (Even when BYU wins.) We are so excited for Jordan and Christie to get married (on our 3rd anniversary) next week!

Paper Mache

My neighbor made this nativity out of paper mache. I think its pretty cool especially because the simplicity and imperfections in it are symbolic to me of what the real birth of Christ must have been like. He arrived as simply and humbly as anyone else into this world. His parents were refugees. His bed was a trough for the animals. He was a baby and probably cried as most babies do, and needed His diaper changed, and fell down when He was learning to walk. That's the truly amazing thing, He was a man of flesh and blood who walked the earth just like each of us. That's how He understands us so completely and knowing this helps me to understand Him just a little bit better. I'm not going to try to be too poetic here at the risk it might just come off as being really cheesy, but I just wanted to say why I love this nativity... I needed a good reminder of what really makes this season so special.

We broke the bed

It was bound to happen! :) The large white line you can see, that is where the wood split on our bed frame today. Now I finally have a really good excuse for not exercising though... my Firm step box is holding the bed up so we don't have to sleep on a slant. Looks like Eric is getting a new bed for his birthday!

Laser lady

The picture 'aint great but the game was! Here is Team Turbo... Laser Taggers 2k9. I think that if aliens are secretly spying on our laser tag centers to see what kind of skills we possess, they are now very aware that they don't stand a chance in hell!

Slumber party

We're having a slumber party! Whitney and Taylor joined us for the evening to go see the light show at the "Christmas Utah" house in Murray, eat dinner at Arctic Circle (Taylor's favorite restaurant), play games and watch Home Alone 3. It was such a fun night! I think my favorite part of the night was watching Home Alone 3 with them because they had the most sincerely exstatic reactions at the main character's ways of thwarting the thieves. Oh, to be a kid again!

Sleepy boys

What's even better than this? Gwyneth was sleeping in her crib at the time. Mom had a few moments of peace and quiet.

The Lights

Sorry, not the lights at temple square. Not even Zoo lights, or a really interesting or cool display of lights. But they're our lights so they're pretty special to us!

White elephant Christmas

Lyndsey, Kathryn, Erin, Emily, Meg, Steph & Meg - Collectively the "Access Girls". I always love when we get together because we always laugh hard and have a great time. It's also fun to see how we evolve over the years. Its crazy that we've known each other for 5 years (give or take for some)! We are each posing with the white elephant gifts we received. Stephanie has leg warmers on & Emily is also wearing her lovely snowman sweater vest.

Santa baby

You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout I'm tellin' you why...

Whiterney's birthday party

Happy 9th Birthday to Whitney! I still need to post the picture for today but its on my mom's camera so it might be a few days before I get it. The best story from the party happened when Whitney was opening one of her presents from my parents. For some reason, Lily (her 2-yr-old cousin) had a sense about this present; she knew it was a baby. From the minute Whithey started opening it Lily was saying "baby, baby!" First, it was wrapped inside an empty box. So Whitney opened that and then there was another wrapped present inside the box. When Whitney pulled that out, Lily got so excited she was jumping up and down and screaming "BABY! BABY! BABY!" Her face started to turn bright red and the more Whitney opened the package, Lily's eyes started to tear up! The best part of all was that it really was a baby doll. Nobody knows how Lily knew this but she grabbed it from Whitney immediately and took it around like a prize trophy, holding it up to show everybody "Whitney's baby!" We were all laughing, including Whitney. Lily was on cloud nine for the rest of the night and was still talking about the baby as they left that night. Mandy made the comment earlier in the night that she doesn't really get "baby hungry". Well, she might not, but her 2-yr-old daughter sure does!

Jones Family Christmas Party

My picture today is from the annual Jones Family Christmas Party. Every year Santa makes an appearance. This year Brady got to sit on Santa's lap. Unfortunately, he was holding Eme.

Drip, drip, drip

Today's picture is of our bathroom faucet and fixtures in the middle of Eric trying to fix our drippy faucet. He worked on this all day (mainly because he had no idea what he was doing and he made 3 trips to Home Depot before he ended up at the Tower of Plumbing for some good advice and then he made several more trips back to the Tower of Plumbing.) He did a great job and not only is the leak fixed but he also bought new knobs that are so shiny and not moldy and calcified like our old ones! He can totally count this as a Christmas gift to me! Thanks babe!

A post a day...

My new advent calendar was inspired by a patient who said that one of their traditions is to take a picture every day until Christmas and then at the end of the month she makes a book of remembrance with all the pictures and each year they look at the years past! I loved that idea and decided to start this tradition but digitally so starting yesterday, December 10th my picture is this spider. Eric killed it in our doorway and then said "Jenny come check this out." I took a picture originally because I wondered if it was a hobo spider but come to find out it is probably just a common house spider, albeit a big one! Hopefully no more of these for the rest of the month!

Gwyneth eating a whole banana like a carnivorous beast!