9 Months Old

Rose is 9 Months old and is the perfect baby age! She's sitting up, eating baby food, holding her own bottle, giggling like crazy at everyone, not crawling yet, sleeping through the night... Oh, man, she is the best! Dave and I are just so happy to have her in our lives. She's so cuddly and sweet! And I'm not just saying that because she's my baby and I have to! I can't even believe how much I love this little girl. She has a sweetness and beauty about her that brings so much joy into our home. Look closely, we think she may even have a little red in her hair like E.




Lils and E LOVE the rain! We have lived here since June and it has literally only rained 3 times! I can't even believe it! In Carolina, it rained almost every other day in the summer. We used to sit by the open window, watch the storms, listen to the thunder, and "oooh!" as the lightning would streak across the sky. We would sit there for hours, just talking about the rain, then sitting quietly and enjoying the sounds. I remember as a child always running into my parent's room during a storm. Sometimes the thunder would be so loud that it stopped your heart everytime it hit! As a teenager, I'd jump into one of my sister's beds. It just felt safer. We definitely miss the rain and the storms. The summers here in Cali are gorgeous, but I did want at least a few rainy days as an excuse to stay home, watch a movie, and just be indoors together. Lils asks if there's going to be a thunderstorm everyday lately. It drizzled a little yesterday and the kids wanted to be outside all day! Here they are with there stools, umbrella, and constant companion, Wookie.

Ebay is 3!!

E turned 3 on Jan 6th! he had a Spiderman/Batman party! It's so funny to me how he LOVES superheros, but has never seen a single cartoon or movie! Just a boy! He got the coolest Batman trike from his Grandma that plays theme music. He won't ride it unless the music is on! It's pretty hilarious. His other Grammy got him a singing Spiderman and microphone. He takes that thing everywhere he goes and sings a long with it. I love hearing him try to remember the words. I made him a pretty cool Spiderman cake, see Emily, you taught me a thing or two!

I sure do love my little boy and am so proud of who he is. He is the sweetest, most caring and tender boy... about 10% of the time. The rest of his time is spent full-fledged running around, throwing balls, riding bikes, playing with Wookie, making mud-pies, throwings rocks at things, jumping off of high things, climbing rocks, playing in the water, yelling, hitting, lauching cars down the stairs, doing flips, making his dinosaurs eat eachother, crashing his trucks into the wall, building towers out of blocks and then crashing them into the wall or down the stairs, playing with Lils and Rose, or laughing like crazy at a joke he's just made up (like "I'm a umbrella" or "your a (he'll look around the room) desk drawer" ha ha ha). He has been two for, like, 5 years... so it's about time he was three!!

Great quote from Pres. Monson

“Day by day, minute by minute, second by second we went from where we were to where we are now. The lives of all of us, of course, go through similar alterations and changes. The difference between the changes in my life and the changes in yours is only in the details. Time never stands still; it must steadily march on, and with the marching come the changes. This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.”

President Thomas S. Monson, October 2008

Video of Wookie and Rose

Here is a video of Wookie and E running around- Wookie is the perfect "rough and tumble" puppy! After that clip is the CUTEST video EVER! (Bias opinion, I know) Lils was jumping rope in front of Rose and Rosie was laughing hysterically! She was cracking up!

Wookie!

Here are some more pictures of our sweet little Wookie!

Christmas Puppy!

Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted a Christmas puppy. To go downstairs on Christmas morning to see a bright red box and open it to find a beautiful little puppy with a big red bow! Well, we weren't able to get the puppy on Christmas Eve (the puppy was 6 hrs away and over two snowy mountain passes) but they were delivering their puppies to our area yesterday. We thought about having my bro-in-law hold him for 5 days, but he works full time and it would be traumatic for the puppy... So, we had a Christmas scavenger hunt yesterday! We went all around the house following clues that show the true meaning of Christmas symbols. Then the door bell rang and there was a bright red box at the doorstep!

I am the WORST! As I was uploading the video I realized that I recorded accidentally right before and right after we surprised the kids on the doorstep and MISSED IT!!!!! They were so cute and so surprised! Oh man! Ebay just started laughing and saying, "puppy!". Lils said, "Oh, a puppy!"... then pause and asked, "is this our puppy?" We said yes and then she just started to scream! Ebay named him "Wookie"! Fits him perfectly! He's a puggle, a combo of C's and my favorite dogs, a pug and a beagle!

Snowboarding!

We went snowboarding with Jeff and Clarks' Dad yesterday! They skiied, I snowboarded. It was the best ever! We went to Sugar Bowl because the tickets were 1/2 off and the snow was great! We just had a blast all day! Clark and Jeff were skiing down trying to find jumps and powder, Keith (Dad) was cruising along having a good 'ol time and I was just trying to make it down without whiping out big-time! Though the second run down, I was feeling pretty good again. I was knocking everybody out on the way off of the lift every time, though! :) Clark would be holding my arm, but I can't turn my board with one foot off the board and so I rammed straight into the snow bank EVERY TIME! Keith and I would ski down to certain points and stop and watch C and Jeff do some fun jump. Both C and Jeff flipped upside-down one or two times, skiis flying in the air. And we all (except Keith, I think) white-washed in the powder, FREEZING! But the sun was out, the sky was clear and beautiful blue, and we just laughed and had a good time! I had my kids at 3 different houses, so I'll be owing babysitting for the rest of my life! And I was told that Rose was screaming half the day... nice.