10 Months Old

Ashlyn has reached the next stage in toddlerhood (don't worry, I know that's not a real word). She thinks she's big stuff because she can open every drawer and cupboard in the house, she knows how to fake cry just to get her way, and she's a lot of fun. Her favorites include: pat-a-cake, mommy, dropping things just to see how many times you'll pick it up, playing with the toys she can stand up to, eating finger foods, and saying "uh" for anything and everything.

Primary Talk

Sadie got to give her first talk in Primary today. She was assigned the topic of 2 Nephi 32:3 "feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." We had her tell the story of Esther because it has been one of her favorite stories ever since we read about it in the friend. Last year, she and Kali would take turns giving a spiritual thought at Family Home Evening and every time it was her turn, she would pick the story of Esther to talk about. 

Baby Shower

Sara and I threw a baby shower for Hannah and I got to host it. It's about the only family gathering I can host at my house because our family is so big. We had a good turn out and yummy food. Hannah and Brett are going to name their baby Proctor after Grandpa. It'll be fun to see them experience parenthood and to see a mini little Brett running around.

Breakfast

I had to catch this scene on camera. Every morning Sadie sits at the table eating breakfast with her hand on her cheek and a water bottle by her bowl of cereal. She doesn't care much for milk but is often thirsty (hence, the water bottle). And her breakfast routine takes a very long time. She's like the tortoise, slowly but steadily eating. It usually takes at least a half an hour to finish a bowl that is less than half full of cereal.

Hansel and Gretel Opera

Capitol Theatre was showing the German opera Hansel and Gretel and I got to go to it with Molly. I haven't been to an opera in a long time. Actually, I've only been to one, and it was Romeo and Juliet. This one was so much fun. I don't know if it was because it's a much more light-hearted story line or if it had more to do with the performers, but it felt a lot like a musical to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks Molly for taking me.

I was a little nervous about being away from Ashlyn that long because she's still nursing and is such a momma's girl. But thankfully Josh was home and able to watch her. I always stress less when he can tend. He's more familiar with the girls' habits and routines and is such a good dad. I know that the evening wasn't a peace of cake for him, but he managed and I had a really nice evening.

Good Eater

Ashlyn has turned out to be a good little eater. She loves anything but baby cereal and those little puff stars that melt in your mouth (weird, since that's all most kids her age will even touch). She'll eat baby food, green beans, peas, carrots, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, mashed potatoes, black beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, pears, peaches, apples, raisins, grapes, watermelon, oranges, bananas, and I'm sure there's more that I can't think of. The only problem is that she prefers to feed it to herself so I end up with a gigantic mess to clean up.

Cousin Visit

Richard and his family came in town and stopped by Mom and Dad's house for a visit. Mom called everyone and the majority of the family was able to stop by for a few hours. It was fun to visit with him and to get to know his wife. Kali and Sadie loved playing with Luke and Jacob.

Big Sister

Kali is getting so big. She has discovered that she's physically able to hold Ashlyn while standing up and begs to do it all day long now. The only problem is that she can't do it for very long and moves around too much. Then she ends up setting Ashlyn down too hard or accidentally runs her into things. It's nice that she wants to be so helpful, but I can't wait for her to be able to do it unsupervised. That'll mean free babysitting. Yeah!!!!

Sunglasses

This girl hasn't ever liked the sun in her eyes while in the car, and turning her face away from the sun never seems to be enough. When she was little, she would ask for a tissue to cover her eyes. Now she insists on wearing my sunglasses.

Temple Square's Visitor Center

For family home evening this week, we headed downtown to visit The Church Museum. Unfortunately we picked the wrong day to go. They were closed. So we decided to make the best of it and went in the visitor center at Temple Square. The girls were really excited about that because they wanted to go downstairs where all the statues and displays were. We challenged them to learn something new while there and I think they came away with a lot. On two different occasions after our visit, Sadie brought up topics that we had discussed while there. One had to do with the display where Mormon was writing on the gold plates and the other had to do with the video she watched on Samuel and Eli.

New Year's Resolutions

Josh created this wonderful chart for our New Year's resolutions this year. He and I normally set goals and have even tried to set some family goals in the past too, but we wanted the girls to be involved in it this year. He thought if we wrote it down on a chart where we could all see them, we would be able to help each other out more. We have four main categories: spiritual, educational, physical, and financial. Each of us set a personal goal and then we have a family goal for each category too. Kali has been so motived that she has already memorized the first three Articles of Faith for her spiritual goal even though she has the whole year to memorize all thirteen. And you should see Sadie do her jumping jacks. It's good practice for her coordination.

Funny Phrases & Expressions from 2010

"I love you more than you think I do."

"I don't want to get older."

Hanitizer for Hand Sanitizer

Scripturnal Study for Personal Scripture Study

Pinkish for any color of pink that isn't a pastel pink

Flea for Three