Tiny Dancer

Is it too young to put an 18 month old in dance? Lucy is so funny. It's like it's her duty to start dancing when she hears music. I've attempted to include some video of her at work (if it doesn't work, you'll just have to take my word for it). She loves dancing to our little Christmas guys, but she'll also show off her moves while sitting in a high chair at Wendy's or when a snappy jingle plays on TV....or other random times when she hears music. She pulls out some pretty good squats, twirls, and funky arm movements. But lately people have been saying she would do well in tap. Either way, it's pretty entertaining for Albert and me.

Other than dancing, Lucy has been staying pretty busy. She's learning new things every day including parts of her body--mostly in the face region, but elbow and belly button are a couple favorites--she surprises us with new words all the time, and Albert is teaching her to sing :) She still loves kids. She plays with her cousins that are her age, which is super cute. She follows her 2 year old cousin around like crazy. And she feels that nursery is the best thing that could happen to a church-going toddler. She is a fairly good eater, she still takes two naps a day, and I am counting my blessings!

I'm looking forward to a 2 week break from work to spend with this cute girl. I just hope we don't drive each other too crazy! Here are some pictures of our 1 1/2 year old.

And on his farm, he had a duck....

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Old McDonald and their prized duck.

Lucy pretty much loved Halloween. She loved the decorations, especially the ones that play music so she could dance to it. She loved her costume for the most part, even finding it in a pile of laundry and bringing it to me so she could wear it. We had a Halloween party and she was up late enjoying the company of our friends and hers...one of her friends was a little duck just like her! Lucy loved her little treat pumpkin and carried it around most of October. By then end of Halloween night, she was no longer oblivious to what was inside; she now knows it's candy and she now knows that candy is something she likes. Trick-or-treating was fun. She was pretty serious about it, but she caught on and she knew what she had to do.

So, Halloween was a success...bring on the holidays! Hopefully Lucy stays in her good mood stage!

Bye bye everyone!!

Hello Fall!

Ready to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

Good Bye Summer

Lucy is 15 months now which means...3 more months until nursery. She is a busy little girl, which is hard during church, but we are loving it. She makes us laugh all the time, and it is so much fun watching her learn new things. The big thing, of course, is that she started walking. It's about the cutest thing ever to watch, and I am glad that she is dirtying the bottoms of her shoes now instead of her hands, knees and tops of her shoes. She's starting to feed herself with her own utensils; I have to remember how it's a good thing for her to learn this skill when there is food everywhere. We spent the end of the summer playing with friends and family, and I'm excited for the fall to spend with my cute little girl.

Lucy was excited to stay up late and was having lots of fun dancing at our friend's wedding.


Dinosaur museum with the cousins


Swimming with our friends


Lucy loves going on hikes; this is something I think all of us will miss as the weather gets cooler.


Helping Dad; Lucy is such a daddy's girl!

Yummy spaghetti dinner!


Baseball hats!


Labor Day picnic

We love our big girl!

Constant

Today is my brother's 11th wedding anniversary, which means my sister-in-law has been a part of my life for quite a while. That got me thinking how much my life has changed in the past 10 years. A lot has changed. What hasn't changed? I had to think pretty hard to come up with things that have stayed constant in my life the last 10 years. So, here is what I came up with that was in my life, and important to me, 10 years ago, today, and all 9 years in between. (I didn't include the obvious things like church, my parents and brothers)

• A driver’s license...and Honda
• Showtune Saturday Night
• Heather and Laura
• My “4th of July” Polo T-shirt
• White cake with strawberries and cream
• 2 out of my 3 sister-in-laws, and my nephew Connor
• Sunday dinner
• Pride and Prejudice
• Corrective lenses
• School of some sort
• Of course I haven’t been married for 10 years, but Albert has been in my life for half of that time.

What has been constant in your life the last 10 years?

Lucy's "Happy Place"

So from the previous camping post, you can tell things went pretty well on Lucy's first camping trip. However, there were times she was on the verge of a breakdown (as is expected with any 1 yr old). So what did we do? Well we quickly learned Lucy has a "Happy Place". Let's just say 2026 can't come fast enough for this little one (that's when she turns 16).

Camping Trip 2011

So this past weekend we went on our annual camping trip with our friends and it was great! However, it did come with it's challenges. Day #1 (Thursday) Jenni, Lucy, Rachelle and Jaci had to wake up in the wee morning hours and drive up to Big Cottonwood Canyon just for the chance to get a spot at the Spruces Campground. Luckily they succeeded and landed us a great spot... #88. I think Jenni and Lucy look great! (if you can't tell already, Albert is writing this entry)


Day #1 was good. The girls spent much of the day setting up the campsite -- without husbands or fiance's. Jenni and Lucy came down the canyon that afternoon to pick me up from work and bring me to the campsite. When I arrived, I must admit, I was impressed with all their work and loved their choice of spot. After dinner, however, we realized we were missing a couple essentials... such as enough firewood, a hatchet and enough gas in the car to shuttle us to our hikes the following day. So I went back down the canyon to do all the above. Meanwhile, the girls went on a nice walk. As I was driving back up the canyon, a thunderstorm followed and when I arrived the girls were back from their hike hurriedly getting everything out of the rain. Within a couple minutes we were in a torrential downpour and stuck in the tents for the rest of the night. Lucy was a little freaked out about the whole thing, which made for a long night. However, I loved it -- it made for daddy snuggle time as I kept her warm in my sleeping bag.

Day #2 we had lots of adventures, including finding a fun geocache and hiking to Donut Falls, which was incredible! The highlight for most of us (but mostly Rachelle) was having Rachelle's fiance' Rocco back from Basic Training. He got back the previous night at 10:30 pm and they are getting married in just two weeks, so you can imagine her excitement. He fits in well with our group of friends and Lucy thinks he's pretty great!



That night, our other friends: Brad, Laura,Palmer, Jill and Heather joined us for dinner and dessert. We had an incredible dinner -- kabobs, french bread and salad. Dessert was also good and fun to make -- banana boats, loaded with good sweets. It was fun for everyone to read through the girls' old college journal and talk about memories. I also inspired several with my Harry Potter wand making skills -- courtesy of my pocket knife. Let's just say Jenni's wand core is Elephant hair, Lucy's is Ladybug dots. Here's a little tour of camp, that includes everyone.

Day #3 was taken up with basically waking up and packing up. By the time we got home, all three of us were pretty much worn out! However, it was worth it. This was Lucy's first camping trip and she did great! She loved the strolls around the campsite, playing in the dirt and hanging out by the fire. Here's a couple more favorites from this weekend!

The Best and Worst of July

BEST
• Family! We’ve had lots of family time and it’s been fun. Albert’s family has come up a couple times to spend the holidays with us, and my brothers were in town from Arizona. So much fun to have all those kids here for a little bit; we miss them lots.
• Geocaching and hiking—We haven’t been geocaching since Lucy was born and Albert recently got a backpack to put her in so we’ve been trying to get back into it. I think Lucy and Albert both love it. Lucy sings little songs into his ear, and then she usually falls asleep.
• Food—Albert got a grill for his birthday, and I’m telling you, everything is better grilled…yum!
• Harry Potter—you can go ahead and think whatever you want about Harry Potter, as long as you don’t make fun of me for being sad that it’s over. I feel as though I’ve invested so much into this story, and it’s weird that there are no more books or movies to look forward to.

WORST
•It’s hot—I know, I know, it’s been a cool July, but that does not mean it’s been cool. Ugh, I can’t sleep at night; Albert and I have both ended up in the basement a couple times. And, I spent all my shopping energy looking for work clothes after Lucy was born, so I have a very limited selection of summer clothes.
•The flu—last week Lucy came down with the flu, which she shared with me, and before you knew it, just about my whole family was sick. This was probably the first time Lucy was really sick, and oh my goodness, it is the saddest thing ever to see a sick baby. There was nothing I could do to soothe her. All I can say is, thank goodness for Pedialyte Frozen Pops!

Here are some pictures of the best:

Lucy has found her belly button; she thinks she's pretty hot stuff.

Trying out the backpack for the first time.


She gets so worn out!

The kids tried to run through the sprinkler, but it was kind of cold!

Lucy loves Zach; Zach kept running away from her!

She really wanted to get the syrup.

A little bit of some finger-painting.

All 10 kids with Grandma and Grandpa--what a good looking bunch!

Albert and Britten's birthdays are a day apart; Emily's is close behind.

The zoo!

The three girls who are three months apart, going from oldest to youngest...so cute!

The copper mine; it was pretty cool.

And really big!

A geocache near the mine. According to McCoy, it was "too easy".

Butlerville Days! It was funny to think that last year, Lucy was 6 weeks old, and now she's going down the slides with Chase. I think she liked it.