Luckily Got Lucky

Playing Catch-Up

2012-01-24T13:49:00.002-07:00

Make sure you scroll down to see our latest 3 posts :)

*Remember these?

*Cousins (i.e. family photos)

*Oh, what would YOU do for a Klondike bar?

Remember these?

2012-01-24T13:34:00.004-07:00

We made these onesies to tell our parents we were expecting Aurora. I finally got pictures of her in all of them...so here they are!

For my parents

I took these back in September

For Dar's parents

I took these yesterday :)
(P.S. These are 6-9 mo. size onesies, and our one year old can still wear them just fine!)

Cousins (i.e. family photos)

2012-01-24T12:56:00.007-07:00

Just after Christmas we went up north to have a whole bunch of pictures taken. We did our family pictures, Aurora's 1st year pictures, cousin pictures, Dakoda's 2nd year pictures, and my goofy siblings pictures. (I've posted some of them already, but they're all going up again in this post.)

Us :)

Our beautiful 1 year old Aurora!!

Cousins :)
(minus a few)

A little background on this one: since getting the "cousins" picture and hanging it up in our living room, Aurora LOVES to look at it. When she does, I always say "cousins" to her. Last Friday she was looking at it and I kept saying, "cousins" and she totally said it back!! TWICE!! Clear as a bell. This is significant because the only other words she really has down are Momma, Daddy, and baba. I was SHOCKED! She hasn't said it again since, but I am still amazed she even said it at all. Way to go, baby girl!

This one cracks us up
2 year old Dakoda!
My goofy younger sibs
And last but not least, Skylar :)

Oh, what would YOU do for a Klondike bar?

2012-01-24T12:37:00.006-07:00

Camp in the Utah mountains in the middle of winter?

Dar did.

He planned a Klondike camp-out with the scouts in our ward and they were able to go the first weekend in January. We were honestly really worried they wouldn't have snow (the whole point of a Klondike camp-out is to play in the snow!). And they didn't have any snow--the first day. But they were pleasantly surprised to wake up to about 3-4 inches of snow the next morning. Dar was in heaven! Although we had to tease him a little bit because one of the scout motto's is "Be Prepared," right? Well, he wasn't prepared for the snow...he was prepared for MUD. When they woke up with snow in the morning he sent one of the other scout leaders back into town to get the Klondike sled they worked so hard on but thought they weren't going to be able to use, Dar's snow pants, and his coat. Silly boy. They had a blast though, and I'm so glad. Camping in the winter may sound fun to the boys, but definitely not to me!

Getting breakfast going

Our Young Men's presidency (minus Dar; he's taking the picture)

All 3 of the scouts who went (and stayed all night) playing with the sled

Wipe-out!

My handsome hubby excited about being able to use their sled :)

He may or may not want me to tell you he got a little crazy with the sled and accidentally bruised his tail-bone. Ouchy! Poor guy.

The boys' camp sight

Is that not beautiful to look at? Love it!

Our good friend, Tyson, and Dar. Happy boys :)

Birthday Celebration(s)!

2012-01-15T16:19:00.014-07:00

**Warning!! This post has birthday picture overload!!**

This lucky little girl of ours got to have not one, not two, but THREE birthday celebrations. Partly because our condo isn't big enough to hold everyone at the same time (comfortably--I'm sure we could all squeeze in, but it's not the most pleasant thought) and partly because Aurora has a cousin who celebrates her birthday just 4 days before!

Celebration #1 - 1.8.12
Up north with my family to celebrate Koda's 2nd birthday, and Aurora's 1st birthday

Aurora with her cousins Dakoda and Hannah

Gifts:
Cute shirt from Perkins cousins

"Touch and Feel" texture books, also from Perkins

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics from Nanny & Gramps

(This picture is for Nanny & Gramps to show that she loves their gift already!)

1st birthday candle!
(Don't mind our serious baby. Haha.)

This 1 year old wasn't shy at all with smashing and eating her cake!

She was so proud of her cake demolition work :)

Bri showing Koda it's "cool" to wear the tu-tu we gave her for her birthday

Koda showing off her new tu-tu once she decided it was okay to wear it

Blowing out her candle!

1.11.12
Minor birthday celebration with Mom and Dad
We got her a kitchen set to play with while I'm working in the kitchen

Celebration #2 - 1.13.12
Party with Friends

Gifts:
More books, Crayola Jumbles, and Oreos (they're dairy free...who knew?)

A bath-safe book and toys

Rori-approved :)

2nd cake demolition!
(I promise, she didn't touch the flame)

Some of the friends at her friend party
P - age 14 mo., Carson - age 6 mo., Aurora - age 12 mo., Ethan - age 12 mo.

Birthday buddies, only 4 days apart

Aurora and Ethan at 2 months

Celebration #3 - 1.14.12
Party with Deming clan

Gifts:

Cute outfit from Aunt Andrea & Uncle Sean

More fun books from Deming cousins

Tu-tu from Rori's friends, Aiden & Khloe

The cousins all had fun playing with the bows on the gift from Grandma and Grandpa
Andrew

Emma :)

Allie. Haha!

Sloane

She was so excited she couldn't even wait for Dad to get the wheels put on!

Going for a drive in her new buggy car from Grandma and Grandpa. Look at that grin!!

All tuckered out and putting her feet up after lots of partying.

Poor, tired princess.

Happy Birthday, baby girl! We are all so blessed to have you in our lives to make us smile and brighten our days. What an incredible first year it has been! We love you!!

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us and for all the great gifts. We're so blessed to have your love and support.

1.11.12 - 1 Year!

2012-01-12T13:08:00.005-07:00

Wow. That's really all I can say. Does every other mom get emotional when their first child turns a year old? I know that's probably a dumb question, but I honestly had a really rough time with my baby turning a year old yesterday. I'm not ready for this baby to be growing up! She really is becoming more and more fun every day though, and watching her grow and learn new things never gets old!

Rori's 12 month stats:
Weight: 17 lbs 7.5 oz (4%)
Length: 28.75 in (40%)
Head: 42.5 cm (1%)
So basically we have a skinny, average height girl with a little head :)

At 12 months:

-Aurora's walking!! She doesn't go everywhere yet, but she will walk back and forth between Dar & I. She walked 1/2 way across our living room a few nights ago. Yay!
-She is an AWESOME eater, despite her allergies. She eats pretty much anything we put in front of her--all table food. She's refused to eat baby food for a while now. She even ate this Chicken Cacciatore recipe with me for dinner last night!
-She still LOVES to dance , and always makes people laugh with her little wiggles and what she thinks is "music" to dance to, such as my KitchenAid mixer. Silly girl.
-She is very good at folding her arms for prayers.
-She loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
-She knows who Jesus is and loves to give his picture smooches. It's seriously the sweetest thing ever & totally makes me teary-eyed.
-She's getting better at sleeping (finally!) since we started letting her cry herself to sleep sometimes. It's SUPER hard, but I seriously appreciate the better sleeping routine.
-She knows where your nose is.
-She loves to be chased around the house.
-She loves piggy-back-rides and can hold on all by herself!
-She is SUPER friendly and will even reach to go to a stranger if they seem friendly enough to her.
-She loves to wave and blows awesome kisses!
-She is so happy and pleasant and we LOVE having her around to give us loves and smiles every single day!

Rori's Vocab:

Momma
Dadda
Baba
Ha (Hi, it kind of sounds like she says it with a southern accent. So cute!)
Ba (Bye)

Rori's Allergies:
Dairy
Amoxicillin
Possibly eggs
Peanut Butter (as of today. Guh!)

Other pictures from the last month:
She sits with her legs like this all the time and she usually has something in her mouth too. Silly girl.

Eating Dad's shoelace. Awesome.

She loves spinning around in our office chair.

Giving the milk snake kisses ;)

Workin' on those pull-ups!

Taking on the Ramen noodle challenge.

Our healthy little eater--carrot stick in one hand and broccoli in the other!

Thrilled to be holding "the baby"

Giving loves.

"Helping" Dad with the laundry :)

We love you so much, sweet Aurora.
Happy birthday, baby girl!!

Birthday Girl!!

2012-01-11T07:59:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday, sweet princess!!

Thanks for making this last year the most incredible yet.
We love you more than you know!!
xoxoxo
Mom & Dad
(1 year update to come later)

Walking!!

2012-01-06T09:49:00.004-07:00

I honestly can't believe it's taken me this long to put up this post. Seriously?

Our little munchk started walking CHRISTMAS EVE!

She took her first steps when we were with my family, which was great timing because my parents got to witness it too. She's getting more and more brave, taking more steps every day. And she thinks she's pretty cool for doing it too. Silly thing. We have yet to capture her new skill on camera though.

Way to go, baby girl!

(Some of) What Dar's been up to.

2012-01-05T09:17:00.006-07:00

My handsome hubby is getting ready to go on a Klondike campout with the scouts in our ward this weekend (another post on that to come later), so they've spent the last few weeks putting their Klondike sled together. I think it looks great! The only question is whether or not we'll actually have any snow for them to pull it on :} We've had an unusually barren winter with hardly any snow. [High of 55 degrees today. Seriously?!] Especially compared to last year (although last year was an unusual year with LOTS of snow).
Also, as part of Dar's Christmas stocking I gave him a gift certificate to go shooting with our friend, Jared, whenever he wanted. Tracee did the same thing for Jared. They took advantage of it right away and went shooting last Thursday while Tracee, the kiddos, and I hung out with Jared's mom and sisters. The boys had a blast, as always. (No pun intended :)
When they got back we went to a nearby park and shot off a rocket Jared got as a white elephant gift from his work Christmas party. It was pretty cool, but the videos we took of it are tons better than the pictures. Sorry :)
Glad you've been able to take the time out of your busy schedule to have some fun!! Hopefully you'll have more and more chances for more fun and less work. Thanks for all you do! We love you, Dar!!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T11:32:00.007-07:00

A few days before Christmas we went to the lights at Thanksgiving Point and dinner with Dar's family. Instead of driving through in separate cars we got to take a horse-drawn carriage ride. It was freezing cold, but very fun, and a nice switch-up from going to Temple Square, which is always fun to do too.

Awesome ice sculptures

We got to see a couple of Santa's reindeer

All bundled up

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my family, and had a great time. We got to relax, eat yummy food, and just have a nice time being together. Although our Christmas was small (which is as it should be in my opinion) it was awesome to have our first Christmas with our first baby. She's so much fun and we're so glad we have her!!

No Christmas gathering would be complete without playing Just Dance :)

Koda really gets into it and makes everyone dance! And ya gotta love the hair :)

Liam fell asleep waiting for dinner, and barely woke up to open presents. Poor kid!

Had to throw this one in of Dakoda. Wearing Gramps' glasses, eating a pickle. What more could you ask for?

Ready to open presents!

See what her jammies say? So true.

Aurora's very 1st Christmas present:
alphabet bath toys from Aunt Shannon, Uncle Jonathan, Hannah & Liam.

Helping Uncle Skylar open his presents too.

Christmas confetti fight!!!
(Long story short: Darwin started it.)

Nanny & Gramps gave Rori a mini bumblebee pillow pet. She fell in love at first sight.

Christmas traditions in my family always include cake and ice cream because my baby brother's birthday is Christmas day!

Christmas morning we went to church and then ate a scrumptious brunch before we opened presents. So nice and relaxing!

Rori in her adorable gingerbread girl dress

Bri & Koda

Presents!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too! Until next year...

The Coat

2011-12-23T10:50:00.003-07:00

Dar's brother, Travis, works for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He works on different projects like the Mormon Channel and Mormon Messages and other things to help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world through the internet. Recently he worked on a really touching animation project that we wanted to share with you, and hope you will share it with others. Merry Christmas!

P.S. Travis posted a little back-story about the coming forth of this project on their family blog here, if you're interested in reading about it :)

Broken.

2011-12-16T14:04:00.004-07:00

Our dishwasher.
And our Blu-ray player.
At Christmas time.
Momma not happy.
Enough said.

12.11.11 - 11 months!

2011-12-12T13:13:00.004-07:00

Yes, sirree! This girl just keeps growing and growing! Almost a whole year old already! This time last year we were greatly anticipating the arrival of this beautiful little bundle of joy. And that's exactly what she is: our beautiful little bundle of joy. She makes us so happy and is always keeping us smiling and laughing. We're so blessed to have her!

At 11 months:
-Aurora isn't quite walking on her own yet, but I'm sure we're not too far off.
-She's finally starting to get back on a better sleeping schedule--our fingers are crossed that she keeps it up!
-We've started giving her soy milk.
-She laughs at whatever we're laughing at, and sometimes will even laugh at something she thinks is funny on her own. It's hilarious!
-She is a DANCER! Dar & I joke that she's bewitched because she can't help but dance when she hears music/singing/or anything that even remotely sounds like music. Our favorite moves are her "Ray Charles" head sway, and her wiggly hips. So stinkin' cute!
-She hums to herself when she's falling asleep if I'm not humming or singing to her. Love it!
-She folds her arms when it's time to pray.
-She loves other babies and gets so happy when she sees any baby around her age.
-She loves water--loves to wash her hands after she eats (i.e. play in the water), and getting more and more crazy with her splashing and playing in the bath tub.
-She had her first ear infection & we found out she's allergic to amoxicillin. BIG bummer.
-She's finally starting to get better at wearing shoes!
-She is still wearing some 6-9 month clothes. We get comments from people all the time on how little she is. (The doctor weighed her last week when we were in for her ear infection and she weighed in at 17.05 lbs with her clothes on!)
-She still doesn't have much hair at all. Poor thing.
-She loves bananas, peas, and Cheerios.
-She's the cutest, sweetest little thing and we're still so happy to be her parents!

Hanging out with the Christmas Mooses

Trying to grab the water :)

She got a rash all over from the amoxicillin. Poor kid.

Cutie pie!

Giving her Momma some good smooches. Who needs mistletoe?

Happy 11 months, baby girl!

Rough Weekend

2011-12-07T15:02:00.006-07:00

To start off the rough-ness, we went up north to say "good-bye" to my dad. He left Friday night to Texas for an 11 week training for a new job and he won't be coming home for Christmas. BIG BUMMER. We miss you already, Pops, and can't wait till you come home!

Rori's cousin, Koda, helping her eat peas

Bad picture of all of us, but it's all good :)

Then, Saturday night, Aurora had a pretty rough night. Being the sweetheart he is, Dar was up with her most of the time. Sunday morning she had a little fever, but we thought it was just from teething so we took her to church. While at church she got worse and worse, so we came home early and it still got worse from there. The last few days have been TOUGH!! Having a sick baby is no fun at all, even a sweet angel of a baby like we have. Long story short, our last few days have consisted of:

-Rori wanting me to hold her pretty much 24/7
-Fevers ranging from 99.1 t0 102.8
-Rori hardly eating anything
-Lots of crying from Rori
-Sleepless nights
-Etc.

After waiting 3 days to see if her fever would go away (which it did yesterday morning and she was acting better for a while, but then got worse again) I finally took her into the doctor this morning. Turns out our sweet little babe has her first ear infection. Our doctor said that on a scale from 1-10, Rori's is a 7-8. OUCH! Poor thing. I feel like such a bad mom to let her suffer for as long as she has. But, when we got home from the doctor's (thanks again, Mom & Dad D for all your help!) I loaded her up on antibiotic, ibuprofen, and ear drops and she's been snoozing the day away ever since. I'm glad she's finally getting some relief. And I'm so glad we haven't had to deal with this until now, and I'm also glad Rori's been really healthy and such a great baby from the get-go. We love you, baby girl! (A little side note: even in her misery, she's been so sweet. When Dar gets home from work, she puts on a sad little smile and waves at him to let him know she's glad he's home. It totally melts my heart!)

Our sick, sleeping baby

On a happier note...we did have some great things this weekend! We got to see this handsome guy get baptized! Congrats, Robby! We love you!
Rori helped me put up our Christmas decorations (and we watched/helped our best friends put theirs up too.)
And Aurora had her first sledding experience! :)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T12:44:00.007-07:00

What a great holiday. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too! Rori and I LOVED having Dar home with us for 5 WHOLE DAYS without anything on the schedule. It was WONDERFUL! Dar loved it too and was bummed he had to leave us today to go to work. We're just all looking forward to Christmas break already :) The things we loved most about Thanksgiving this year: our first Thanksgiving being together as a family of three--being grateful for all we have--swimming--being with extended family--spending time with friends--relaxing--great food--and just to reiterate: being together. That's what the holidays are all about. Being with the people you love most, and boy, did we need it!!

Getting a nap in before turkey time

Mmm! SO delish! Great job on the turkey, Travis!

Us :)

You can see Rori's top teeth in this picture. So cute!

Part of the crew

She loved the turkey and the rolls. Happy girl :)

And some other pics from our break
Rori had her first experience being swung in a blanket by Dad

Dar set up our Christmas tree and Rori just wanted to play with the box.

Rori in her darling new owl beanie my friend Nicole made. Thanks again, Nicole!! We love it!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Gratitude.

2011-11-22T10:57:00.005-07:00

For Family Home Evening last night we had a "gratitude activity" in honor of Thanksgiving this week. I created pieces of paper with the numbers 1-100 on it for Dar & I to think of 100 things we're grateful for. At first Dar wasn't too thrilled and thought he could only maybe come up with 50 at the most (he was pretty tuckered out from work). It did seem like a challenge at first, but we were both pleasantly surprised with how quickly we came up with our 100 blessings. It wasn't our "Top 100" list but "The-first-100-things-that-came-to-mind" list, and we honestly could have kept going long past 100. There were many things I thought of that I didn't actually write down but Dar had on his list and vice verse. Some things were pretty general and others were really specific. It was definitely a fun activity that I'd like to make a tradition for FHE the Monday before Thanksgiving each year. I think it will be fun to see how our lists change from year to year.

And just a little sample, here's the first 10 things and our last item we each put on our lists:

Darwin:

1. Kiara
2. Aurora
3. Knowledge of the Gospel
4. Atonement of Jesus Christ
5. Blessings
6. Abundances
7. Few major trials
8. Home
9. Job
10. 2nd mortgage nearly paid off
100. That Heavenly Father gave all of this to me

Kiara:
1. Heavenly Father
2. Jesus Christ
3. Darwin
4. Aurora
5. Laughter
6. Happiness
7. Smiles
8. Temples
9. Scriptures
10. Prayer
100. Life

Happy Thanksgiving this week, and I hope you each take the opportunity to count your blessings and thank our Heavenly Father for all He has given you!

Chocolate.

2011-11-21T09:37:00.005-07:00

She's been introduced. There's no going back now!

Dear Santa,

2011-11-16T13:41:00.004-07:00

I just wanted to let you know that you will be receiving a wish list from me soon. I'm going through the adds right now.

Love,
Aurora

11.11.11 - 10 months!

2011-11-11T10:57:00.006-07:00

First off, HAPPY VETERANS DAY! Thank you to the many, many people who serve our country and have served our country, especially my family members who have served and sacrificed. We couldn't be more grateful for your service!!! And Happy Birthday to my friend, Janice, and Tracee's twin brothers, and anyone else who happens to have a birthday on this fun date!

Our little one kind of has a birthday today. She turns 10 months today! Ho-ly smokes! No more single-digit birthdays for this little one, when you're counting by months, of course. Aurora is such a joy, and her little personality is popping out more and more. It seems like she has learned so much in the past month, check out our monthly list and pictures below. I honestly can't believe we'll be celebrating our 1st baby's 1st birthday in just 2 months. Monumental. Can it be real?

At 10 months:
-Aurora is so curious, loves to explore, and gets into EVERYTHING. Nothing at our house is safe from baby fingers anymore.
-She discovered she can put her finger in her nose. Hilarious, but not something we're trying to encourage.
-We discovered a few weeks ago that she can climb a whole flight of stairs all by herself, even though we don't have any stairs at our house for her to practice on.
-She loves to be everywhere I am and follows me all around the house.
-She loves to "help" me with whatever I'm working on, be it laundry, dishes, cooking, what-ev...she wants to be right there with me.
-She likes to play "hide-and-seek" and will come search around the house for me when I'm in another room and keep calling her name. She thinks it's so funny!
-She's working on trying to walk, and I'm sure she'll be walking on her own before we know it.
-We've been trying to get her to go to sleep on her own (she stopped doing it when she figured out she could stand up in her crib) and we haven't been very successful yet because she makes herself throw up. SO not fun!
-She loves when Daddy comes home from work and gets so excited to hear his voice.
-She's eating more and more table food and loves to feed herself with her fingers. She's also getting much better with her sippy cup, but she LOVES her bottles! Weaning is going to be loads of fun.
-She loves to bite EVERYTHING with her 6 little sharp teeth! She even has a chipped tooth already. Seriously. (Ever seen Lemony Snicket's: A Serious of Unfortunate Events? She's totally like the little girl who's talent is biting things.)
-She's getting more and more vocal, although I haven't picked up on any new words this last month. She likes to sing when we sing, especially at church. It's pretty dang cute.

Happy 10 months, baby girl! Thanks for making us so happy and keeping us laughing. We love you!

"Helping" Mom unload the dishwasher

Eating spaghetti and peas. Mmm!

Playing with her books and burp cloths; almost an everyday occurrence

Finger in the nose

Oops! Got caught!

Another shot of finger-in-the-nose. Just for kicks.

Discovering the toilet paper roll

1st time walking with the push-car!!
(This was just last night)

A common sight I'm sure we'll get used to as she's running away from us in a couple months.

And a video of Rori walking with the push-car, for anyone interested:

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T09:40:00.004-06:00

We love Halloween at our house. It pretty much goes without saying. It's amazing to me how fast the time flew and that we didn't get to do some of the stuff I had hoped, but that's what happens when you have a baby that goes to bed at 8:00 and a super busy hubby. Such is life. It was still a great holiday, and I thoroughly enjoyed it :)

We really wanted to go all out with our family theme costumes this year, but we're trying really hard to pay down our student loans and things right now and we couldn't justify spending the money on the costumes we really wanted. So we went with Plan B. Cheap, but cute.

We couldn't resist going with a bee theme for our costumes this year as our plan B, with Dar having his first beehive and all. Rori was the baby bee, I was the queen bee, and Dar was the beekeeper. It was fun and everyone who saw us liked our creativity.

Our adorable little baby bee. I LOVED her floppy antennae.

At our ward party. I didn't have my crown :(

Dar's AWESOME pumpkin this year. Just about every trick-or-treater we had told us how awesome it was. We know. Good job, Babe!
(Then some stinky kids in the neighborhood went around stomping on all the pumpkins yesterday and ours were casualties too.)

My skill level is a little less than Dar's, but at least I carved one this year!

Happy Halloween!! Until next year....

2011 UVU Conference on Adoption

2011-10-28T10:37:00.004-06:00

Yes! It's that time of year again. The Conference is next Friday (Nov. 4th)!! I know this may be kind of late notice for some of you who may be interested in attending, but today's the last day to preregister (although not your last chance, the price just goes up a bit, but it's SO worth it!). Click here to learn more about the conference and/or to register. It's going to be a great one, as usual! Hope you can make it!

Hillbilly Joke of the Day

2011-10-26T10:46:00.003-06:00

Never Choke in a Restaurant in the South

Two hillbillies walk into a restaurant. While having a bite to eat, they talk about their moonshine operation. Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich begins to cough. After a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress. One of the hillbillies looks at her and says, "Kin ya swallar?" The woman shakes her head no. Then he asks, "Kin ya breathe?" The woman begins to turn blue and shakes her head no. The hillbilly walks over to the woman, lifts up her dress, yanks down her drawers and quickly gives her right butt cheek a lick with his tongue. The woman is so shocked that she gives a violent spasm and the obstruction flies out of her mouth. As she begins to breathe again, the hillbilly walks slowly back to his table. His partner says, "Ya know, I'd heerd of that there 'Hind Lick Maneuver' but I ain't niver seed nobody do it!"

Hope you had a good laugh :)
(Dar got this joke from one of the faculty members at work.)

Golden Sunset at Antelope Island

2011-10-24T08:37:00.009-06:00

Dar had fall break last Thursday and Friday, and it was SO nice to have him home for a couple extra days with us, but it went by WAY too fast! We wanted to do something fun during his time off, so on Thursday we went to visit my family and took a short trip out to Antelope Island with my Dad and niece, Dakoda (we didn't get any pictures of them, but they were there!). It's been years since I've been to the island, but this was the first time for Darwin & Aurora. I wish we'd had more time, but we can always go again :)

We got there just a couple hours before sunset, and it was almost the perfect time. We weren't able to see a couple things because they closed at 5. We'll have to go a little earlier next time.

We saw some wildlife

A different view of the Wasatch Mountains

Salt Lake City off in the distance

The sun getting ready to set

Dar caught a brine shrimp: the only thing that lives in the water
We got to stick our feet in the Great Salt Lake
Our traditional family photo shoot :)
Cool sillouhette Dar took of me and the munchk
And the amazingly beautiful golden sunset was absolutely breathtaking!!

10.11.11 - 9 months!

2011-10-20T06:42:00.004-06:00

Our beautiful baby girl is 3/4 of a year already?! Where has the time gone? It's crazy to think she's now been out longer than she was in...if ya know what I mean ;) Why is it that time seems to be flying faster now that she's here than when we were waiting for her to arrive? Someone needs to invent a machine that slows down time. Any takers?

Rori's 9 month stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 5 oz (9%)
Length: 26 in (7%)
Head: 41.5 cm (1%)

She's definitely our teeny little bobbin, but that sure doesn't stop her from doing anything (except eating dairy...she doesn't have a choice about that one because she's unfortunately allergic, poor thing)! Her iron was low yesterday so we have to start her on an iron supplement, and the doc said that could be part of why she's staying so little, but she's not too worried, so I'm not either. We love our teeny little nugget!

At 9 months:
-Aurora has 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on bottom...and she bites hard!! Luckily biting isn't a common occurrence, but if you happen to get your finger in her mouth, watch out!
-She's definitely crawling and pulls herself up to just about anything she can and walks along the furniture. Walking along the furniture is probably her favorite thing to do right now.
-She's starting to say words! Her vocab includes: Mom, baba, Da (for dad), and Hi. She can also sign "all done" and "more", and she can wave...all of course only done when she wants to.
-She gives the BEST baby kisses...I seriously can't get enough of those slobbery smooches! Especially when she grabs my ears and pulls me in for a good one :)
-She's a Momma's girl, but she sure loves her Daddy too.
-She likes to watch out the window and wave bye to Daddy when he leaves for work in the morning.
-Her napping schedule is WAY off from the awesome schedule she was on a month ago, but we're working on trying to get her back on track.
-She's a smart little stinker! And we LOVE watching her grow and learn new things.

And...Rori hit two landmarks yesterday:
1. First goose egg on the head. Ouchie!
2. Last night she stood for about 3-4 seconds by herself without holding on to anything!! Way to go, babe!

We love you, Aurora!!

Whatta Week!

2011-09-29T15:04:00.008-06:00

Aurora has come leaps and bounds with her progress this last week. It absolutely amazes me how fast she's growing and learning!

Last Thursday, Rori crawled for the first time!! She's been scooting and army crawling for a while and finally got up and did the real thing! She's completely mobile now and follows me around the house (albeit slowly). I'm definitely not used to her movement and I'm learning quickly what things she likes to get into :) She still mostly army crawls but she's getting better...and fast! She's a little cruiser!

She got herself wedged between the swing & bumbo

Just in the last week she became interested in standing against the furniture. She was pretty wobbly at first and fell frequently, but in just a couple days her improvement was amazing! Standing against the coffee table is seriously her favorite thing to do now. She also hasn't been interested in trying to walk at all, even with my gentle encouragement, but with learning to stand against the coffee table she's starting to walk along the table a little bit. Very slowly, mind you. It's so cute.

Standing so good!

Watching the fish

She also pulled herself up to the coffee table all by herself this morning! And she's done it several more times since then. This little girl learns fast!

Chillin' under the coffee table

Brushing her teeth :)

She is definitely saying Momma and baba. She's been babbling them forever but I'm pretty certain she knows what they mean and how to use them now--only when she wants to, of course. She's been really discovering how to use her mouth and one of her new things is the picture below--she pulls her lips up to her nose and breathes really hard. It's so stinkin' cute!!
She's also becoming a professional spit bubble maker. Silly girl (see video below, right at the beginning). We love you, Aurora, and all the new fun things you're learning! It's so fun to see your personality blossom!!

Mommy-hood

2011-09-27T18:02:00.002-06:00

I love being a mom. Having this little girl in our home has changed my life tremendously in the last 8.5 months. She is amazing and I thank my Heavenly Father every single day that I have her in my life. She makes me laugh countless times daily, and I still can't get over her cute-ness--I don't think I ever will. I live for her snuggles and smooches. She's great at giving them to her Momma & I love her cuddles too. Best thing ever!

Despite all of my attempts to intellectually & emotionally prepare myself for mommy-hood through reading and observing the example of other moms--including my own mom and mother-in-law, my sisters, and my grandmothers, etc., I've realized that you really don't understand the incredible responsibility of being a mom until you actually become one. Being a mom is the greatest gift and blessing (as well as challenge) I could have ever hoped for, and I'm so grateful to my sweet husband and my Father in Heaven for making it possible. I know it's not a privilege everyone is blessed to experience in this life but that if they are faithful in this life the blessing to be a parent will come in the next.

I'm currently reading an amazing book titled "Mothering with Spiritual Power" written by Debra Sansing Woods. She's a great author. It's the second book of hers that I'm reading. I'm so grateful for her spiritual insight and inspiration. It makes me want to be a better mom to my sweet baby girl. One of the chapters I read today reminded me that it really does take a village to raise a child, and that we should openly and willing accept all the support we can get, especially from other moms. I just want to end this post by sharing a quote from the chapter that really hit home to me today, and I'm so grateful for her inspired words, and hope to be more supportive of other moms myself:

"The world seems to pay a lot of lip service to the importance of motherhood and honoring mothers, especially around Mother's Day, but in reality, it often seems to do more to diminish and even undermine motherhood than to esteem and support motherhood. And, in my opinion, the media--through magazines and television--seems to foster conflict among mothers by attempting to keep us at odds with one another rather than fostering a sense of community with each other that could be so helpful in raising our kids."

Another great dose of mothering inspiration came to me this past weekend as I attended the General Relief Society meeting. President Uchtdorf always seems to know exactly what to say to the women of the Church, and the world for that matter, and I'm so grateful for his inspired calling and responsibility. Read the highlights of President Uchtdorf's message here. Or watch his talk here.

It's just what happens when . . .

2011-09-23T10:43:00.005-06:00

You are determined to roll onto your tummy while Mom is trying to change your diaper.

Mom leaves her clicky orange high-lighter within your reach and didn't realize you clicked it open when you're playing on the couch.

Dad lets you play in the blinds on the windowsill.

P.S. HAPPY FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN!!!
Time to whip out the Halloween decorations!!

P.P.S. Thank you, Blogger, for FINALLY making it easy to have a cute font!! It's MUCH appreciated!!

Honey Harvest

2011-09-20T14:26:00.006-06:00

A week and a half ago Dar was able to harvest the honey for the first time from his first beehive. It's actually been a really neat experience to watch him learn about and take care of his first hive. He's done awesome, and I love seeing his face light up when he gets to go tend to his bees. He absolutely loves it! I can bet ya that we'll be getting a second beehive next year, although he hasn't said he wants another one for sure yet.

He was able to harvest the honey from 10 frames, although they weren't all full. When all was said and done he got about 4 gallons (weighing around 50 pounds) of honey!! I was so excited when I went to pick him up after he was done harvesting and was surprised to see how much honey he got! Pretty cool. If any of you are locals and know where we are, let us know if you want some raw local honey. We'll sell you some :)

Getting the extractor figured out

Scraping the wax caps off the honey

Bee wax that we're going to try to make lip balm and stuff with

Technology is so nice. Can you imagine spinning the honey by hand?

The honey is double sifted to make sure all the wax and stuff gets separated out

The honey is delish!! It looks great, tastes great, and the best part of all is that it came from our very own beehive! I think it's safe to say that Dar's first season of beekeeping has been a complete success :) Bring on season #2!

9.11.11 - 8 months!

2011-09-16T10:49:00.011-06:00

I was visiting my cousin the other day and she asked how old Rori is now. I told her 8 months and her response was, "Wow! She's almost a year old already!" Seriously. Almost a year? Where has the time gone? Luckily we still have 4 more months before the 1st milestone birthday. My baby is still my baby, and she gets me wrapped around her finger a little tighter every single day. I admit it: I'm head over heals for our little lady. I love this little girl more than I can say, and I still have to pinch myself occasionally to remind myself that, "Yes, I am finally a mom to the best little girl in the world!"

At 8 months:
-Aurora is working on getting her 5th tooth!
-She's still not quite crawling, but she can definitely get to where she wants to be. Her little army crawl is adorable! (See pics below.)
-She prefers to fall asleep on her own most of the time now. We just lay her in her crib, play some music and she's out within minutes. I still try to rock her to sleep when I can and I love it when she lets me.
-She loves to yell and hear her own voice and loves it even more when we'll yell back with her. She can get pretty loud--especially in the car :)
-She's able to drink soy formula! We're working on switching her over to 100% formula now that we found one she can drink.
-She's still not really interested in eating solid food, but she does like her rice crackers. We're still working on the fruits and veggies.
-She gives great kisses and is working on learning to wave.
-Sometimes when she babbles it sounds like she clearly says her name. Other times when she babbles she sounds like an ewok from Star Wars. It's stinkin' cute!

Crawling:

She gets up like she's going to crawl all the time, and then gives up. Silly girl.

One way she gets around is by straightening her legs and pushing with her toes. I love seeing that cute little bum in the air! She can pull herself around pretty well with her arms too.

Bath time:

One of her favorite things

Swimming:

We haven't taken her to the pool a whole lot in the last couple months, but she still loves it when we do go. She likes to be as helpful as she can to get us out the door faster :)

Love her cute little robe! I love her face too...she's so inquisitive and loves soaking in her surroundings.

In her cute little swim suit. I love all her different facial expressions! She's such a serious baby too. Strangers will often comment on how serious she is. :)

Sleeping:

She sleeps for a good 10 hours straight at night, then takes 2 naps during the day. Usually between 1-3 hours long.

Mornings:

She usually wakes up before Dar leaves for work so she can say goodbye. She's started to cry sometimes when he leaves so we watch out the window so she can wave, or just watch him leave. To distract her when he's gone I sometimes turn on Disney Junior for her. She really likes Micky Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins (I promise I don't let her watch a whole lot). She also loves her giraffe pillow pet from Omie and Grandpa!

Dress Up:

I attempted to be crafty a couple months ago and made this cute pink tu-tu. She really just likes to eat it :)

Enlarge this picture and you can kind of see her two bottom teeth. I can't get enough of her little toothy grin!

We love you, sweet Aurora!! Happy 8 months, babe!

Grammy's Funeral

2011-09-09T10:22:00.003-06:00

It was last Saturday, and today would have been her 91st birthday. It's comforting to know she's at peace now and no longer suffering and in pain from her body failing. That's what happens when you get old, I guess.

It was nice to be able to attend her funeral. But it was pretty hard at the same time. It's the first time I've been one of the family members to the deceased. It was tough, but we all made it through. And Grandma is at rest now. We love you so very, very much, Grandma!!

And of course the photo documentation :)

My Dad and his 5 older brothers were the pall bearers

Grandma's favorite color was yellow (mine too!) and there were lots of beautiful yellow flowers provided.

Our family

Me and the munchk

Our beautiful baby girl. She's one of 67 great-grandchildren!
(And I have 28 cousins)

Sky and Bri checking out some of Grandma's pretty flowers

All 8 of Grandma's kids. Man! They're goofy! :)

With spouses

Rori thought Uncle Skylar's earrings were pretty fun toys :)

She was so focused!

Even with as hard as it was, we all laughed, of course we cried, and we comforted and supported each other. It was nice to be with my family...my hubby and baby, my parents, all of my siblings, so many cousins, all my aunts and uncles, and even more extended family. Grandma sure impacted the lives of so many people and left such an amazing legacy for all of us left behind. I'm so grateful I can call myself her granddaughter.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Kirsten! I know today's hard for you. You're in my heart and my prayers!

9/11 Tribute

2011-09-06T19:30:00.002-06:00

In case you're interested (which you should be) the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is joining forces with celebrated new anchor Tom Brokaw for a special 9/11 tribute on Sunday. You won't want to miss it! It'll be broadcast around the country. Click here to find out when you can watch it in your area. Click here or here to find out more information about this amazing performance.

Do you remember where you were on 9/11 when you heard about the attacks?

I do.

I was a sophomore in high school and had just gotten to my first class of the day--seminary. My teacher had the news playing on the TV. I didn't believe it at first. It just couldn't be real--but unfortunately it was. The rest of the day was pretty much a blur for me. I was privileged to go to the top of the World Trade Center just 6 weeks earlier.

Thanks again, Bill, Suzanne, and Messy!

Dar was in Brazil serving a 2-year LDS mission for our Church. He was out visiting a home of a family and they had the news playing on their TV when he got there. He came back to the U.S. just a month later after completing his full-time mission.

Fun with cousin Koda

2011-09-01T15:00:00.003-06:00

Rori adores her cousin Dakoda, and Koda loves Rori too. They are so funny when they get together, and Rori thinks Koda is the funniest person she knows. We just wanted to share a couple of cute videos we've taken of the two of them together. Enjoy!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Bean!! We love you!!

Grandma Koon

2011-08-29T08:31:00.000-06:00

September 9, 1920 - August 29, 2011

She is so precious to me. And she has returned home to our Heavenly Father, just under 2 weeks shy of her 91st birthday. Our sweet Grandma Koon passed away this morning around 5:15am.

One of the last pictures of Rori and Granny Great together
(taken 5-28-11)

Taking a snooze on Granny Great

We were so fortunate to go up to Idaho yesterday to say goodbye to Grandma one last time. What a blessing!! It was so very hard to see her in the state she was in, but I'm so glad we had the opportunity to give her kisses and tell her we love her. She was really struggling with her breathing, she hadn't eaten anything since Friday morning (she had corn flakes for breakfast :), she really wasn't coherent yesterday, and she was just ready to go.

Four Generations
(taken 4-2-11)

I love that when I accidentally woke her up with a kiss on the forehead, she looked at me and when I told her it was Kiara, she said, "Hello, dear," and she told me she loved me. She also told Brianna that she loves her too. I'm not sure if those were the very last words she spoke, but they were close to it and that means so much to me.

Our family at Grandma's 90th birthday party last year
(taken 9-4-10)

It was incredibly difficult to see her body struggling, and she was so much worse than when we saw her just a two weeks ago. She has always been so strong and such a fighter. My Dad & Darwin were able to give her a priesthood blessing and gave her permission to return home to our Father in Heaven. With as much as we will all miss her, it is so comforting to know she is in a better place now and no longer in pain. I'm glad that she didn't hang around for too much longer after we were able to say goodbye, but I do feel sorry for my family members who live too far away that they were unable to give Grandma one last hug and kiss. I'm glad to know she is at peace now. Her funeral will be this weekend, and I'm sure that will be a struggle in and of itself emotionally, but I am so grateful for Grandma Koon and the life she has lived. She is an incredible example to me and I will miss her dearly but I feel so fortunate that we were able to spend some time with her on her last day on this earth. We love you, Grandma!!!

For kicks.

2011-08-27T12:53:00.001-06:00

I love all the random pictures we take sometimes. I was just browsing our photo files and thought I'd share a few. Enjoy!

Corn on the cob from our garden!

The first real pie I've ever made. I used cherry pie filling we canned last summer with my cousin, Martha. (I guess I still cheated because I didn't make the pie crust from scratch.)

Glued to something on TV. Dar calls her our little boob-tuber.

Sleeping on our bed, surrounded by pillows--she's a little wiggle worm when she sleeps now!

Taking a snooze on Dad's belly

I can't imagine her arm was really that comfortable!

And now a whole bunch of her "eating" sweet potatoes. I just wish she'd actually eat her food. She's definitely a Momma's milk-bottle baby. (Yes, I'm still pumping. We recently found out she's allergic to a couple different formulas. Big bummer.)

P.S. Dar took me to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 last night. LOVED IT!!!!

Watch Your Step

2011-08-23T09:57:00.001-06:00

The two cute girls in this Mormon Messages video are our nieces, Emma & Allie. They did an awesome job, and the message is great too :)

Back to School

2011-08-22T08:44:00.001-06:00

Goodbye, summer (what summer we did have). Hello, full time (and then some) teaching. Hello, oober busy husband. Hello, school year routine. Hello, autumn and upcoming holidays! Yipee!

A week or so ago Dar & I made this poster for the science club at his new school.

(THANKS, TRACE, FOR HELPING TOO. WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!)

Finished product.

Good luck, Babe, with teaching at your new school plus teaching an evening class at UVU this fall and everything else you have going on. Thanks for all you do for our family, for the community, and for your students. YOU ROCK!! We love you!!!!

Busy Weekend

2011-08-16T09:48:00.000-06:00

On top of celebrating our 6th anniversary (see post below) we spent the weekend with my family. It's always nice to visit and catch up, and I was glad my parents got to spend some time with Aurora too, but I can honestly say that after 4 weekends in a row of camping and then a whole weekend away from home I'm looking forward to being at home in my bed this weekend!!

We had a family reunion in Idaho on Saturday and then on Sunday we celebrated our niece, Hannah's, 6th birthday.

Relaxing, watching TV Friday night. Rori is seriously the best snuggler!

Love this picture of Koda :)

Anderson Family Reunion on Saturday

Hanging out with Auntie Di

Dar got to be the auctioneer. He did awesome...had everyone laughing, of course :)

Aunt Bri, Rori, and Koda

Cousins. Exactly a year apart :)

The sign that always welcomes us to Grandma's house

And seriously one of the most AMAZING sunsets on Saturday night. Absolutely beautiful!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Bear!! We love you!!!

Six

2011-08-15T10:59:00.000-06:00

We celebrated our sixth anniversary on Friday! I seriously can't believe we've been married for six years. Where did the time go? But I can most definitely say the past 6 years have been the best 6 years of my life. Who wouldn't love being married to their best friend and be thrilled they get to spend the rest of their life with them? We are certainly two lucky ducks!! I love you, Darwin!

Our anniversary this year was a bit more low key than what we've done in the past because having a kid changes everything. Seriously. But it's oh, so good! Of course we still took the opportunity to celebrate :)

We've been trying to keep up with our tradition of going to the temple on or as close to our anniversary as we can to remember the covenants and promises we made to each other the day we were married. It's probably my most favorite tradition of the year. This year we went to the Provo Temple. Thanks, Christmas Lape's for watching Rori so we could go!
After our trip to the temple we packed up and headed up north to let Rori spend some time with Gramps and Nanny so we could go to dinner. Dar took me to The Roof at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Mmm! So good! It's the first time Dar has been there, and it's been a really long time since I've gone there too. We were both glad we went. So worth it!

I think we got the best table in the house!

Mmm! Creme brulee!

Dar enjoying something delectable :)

The beautiful Salt Lake Temple from the viewing window

And one more shot of us for good measure :)

To top off the day with another boost, we got to shake hands and ride in the elevator with this guy. It was definitely a great, great day.

Happy Anniversary, Bunches!

Thanks for making me a better person. I Love You!

8.11.11 - 7 months!

2011-08-11T12:59:00.000-06:00

Our baby girl is 7 months old today! She's such a joy to be around and growing so much! It's sad to me that she's definitely not a newborn anymore, but Dar & I love watching her learn new things and explore the world around her.

At 7 months:
-Aurora has 2 teeth! And they're such beautiful little teeth. They make her grin incredibly irresistible!
-She's still working on trying to crawl but getting closer and closer to actually doing it. Especially when she watches her friend, P, make his way around the floor.
-She is getting more and more curious about things around her and EVERYTHING goes in her mouth right now. [Dar just reminded me that she got this little plastic duck stuck in her mouth when we had some friends over last week--it wasn't something she could choke on, but just the right size to get it stuck in those little jaws. The poor thing panicked a little bit, and we couldn't help but laugh after Dar saved her from the predicament she got herself into.]
-She is still such a great sleeper but she can roll over in her sleep now and is a little wiggle wort all throughout the night.
-She has fallen asleep on her own in her crib at least 3 times in the last week and half. Hopefully we have a good trend starting!
-She's starting to try more foods, and hopefully will enjoy eating more as we work our way to trying different things.
-She is getting louder with her babbling and I LOVE listening to her sweet little voice as she plays with her toys.
-She's still pretty petite but definitely getting some little rolls. She has an extra crease on her forearm and adorable little rolls on her thighs. Man! I can't help but munch on them a little bit!
-She doesn't like to wear shoes and prefers to have her piggies naked.
-She loves when Daddy comes home from work and gives him the cutest little grins. She knows he's the fun one already!
-She actually seems to love the grass! She loves to sit in it, pick it, eat it, and get it stuck between her toes. Looks like our baby is going to love digging in the dirt like we do...bring on our little gardener! We're going to need her help pulling weeds next year :)

Mmm! I love that face!! She seriously gets a million kisses from her Momma on a daily basis.

Rori's concentration face--classic tongue sticking out. She does this a lot when she's playing with her toys.

Picking the grass

And of course, eating the grass

First time eating peas:

It looks like she's begging with her eyes for Dar to save her.

Bad thing about the bumbo...she can arch away when she doesn't want anymore. Haha.

Next food item: green beans. I keep telling her that she has to eat the veggies before we can move on to the good stuff. We'll get there eventually. Keep up the good work, baby girl! We love you more than you know!

#4 - Payson Lakes

2011-08-08T17:59:00.000-06:00

We've officially been on our fourth and final campout of the summer. We went to Payson Lakes this last weekend with my cousin, his wife, and their four kids; the ones who lovingly gave Dar and I the nickname "Kiarwin." We seriously had a blast! It's so nice to just get away from everything and escape to the beautiful mountains of Utah every now and then, especially with people you love. And we had the chance to do it 4 times this summer!

After we got camp set up we headed for a dip in the lake.

Rori fell asleep as soon as we pulled in the parking lot. The water was a bit too cold for her anyway.

Aeryka was so happy to be in the water

Nick seriously went all over the lake in his tube. It was funny to see how far he'd get so quickly!

Martha taking pictures of her kids in the water
This little squirrel was in the bushes right where Martha, Rori and I were sitting. I think we were right by his little hole in the dirt.

Me & the bebe after she woke up from her short snooze.

After swimming we went back to camp. Dar & Ron took the kids on a small "hike" while some of us stayed back. Aeryka got to feed Rori her bottle :)

This is Dar imitating Jessy trying to get away from the smoke. It was so funny to see Jess do it the first time, I just didn't get a picture of it.

Robby was Dar's best bud on this trip. He wants to be a scientist like Dar is :)

Rori playing with Ron & Robby

Chilling with Nicky

Rori was playing with Dar a bit and just so happened to make this awesome face right as I was taking a picture. You're amazing, baby girl!

Her eyes in this one crack me up too. "I can't believe you're smooching me, Dad. It's so embarrassing!"

Of course no campout would be complete without a delicious smore or two. Or maybe three...but who's counting?

It got pretty chilly during the night and Rori ended up sleeping most of the night in Dar's sleeping bag with him this time. Which meant Dar didn't sleep very well, but we survived.
This was in the morning...Ron & Rori mesmerized by the fire.

Rori enjoyed a short morning nap while we packed up camp. She really was sleeping with her hand in the air like this. Silly girl.

We couldn't pass up another visit to the lake before heading home. I guess the water was pretty chilly, but I honestly didn't get in either time. I'm not much of a lake swimmer, but Dar is :)

The lake was a bit busier this time. And oh, so beautiful!

After swimming we took a walk on the trail that goes all the way around the lake. I LOVE all the green trees!!

Jessy & Robby climbing back up from checking out the water
And this was just a cool tree we saw on our walk. There was a little trivia sign thing that said the trees get bent like this because of the weight of all the snow in the winter time. Pretty cool, and it makes for some funky looking trees!

Thanks again, Christmas Lape's for letting us join you for your campout! We'll have to do it again next year. Love you guys!

The hubby's happenings

2011-08-03T16:25:00.000-06:00

To say Dar has had a busy summer may be an understatement. He hasn't had a whole lot of downtime, but still manages to be a great husband and dad, and make summer as fun as possible. It's the first time he's worked during his summer break since becoming a junior high teacher 4 years ago (although he's always had something going on to keep him plenty busy), and he's definitely felt the lack of having a break! He honestly only had a week where he didn't have something going on and some place he had to be. He truly is amazing and such a trooper!

Beekeeping: First on the list of what Hubby has been up to...you may remember this post I did back in May about Dar's new hobby: beekeeping. Well, he's had the bees for a few months now and is totally in love with having a beehive. He thinks he may eventually want to make a side business out of it. Well, back in June we took some pictures and video of Dar checking his hive for the first time. He was in heaven :)

Donning his official bee hat and veil

Looking snazzy!

Checking a frame to make sure all is going well.

He could seriously sit and watch the bees for hours if he had the time.

His queen!! She's the dark, long one in the center. I decided we're naming her Queen Latifah.

And just because it's pretty cool and fascinating, here's some short videos we took when Dar was checking his hive:

1/2 Marathon: Just a week after school got out back in June, Dar ran his first half marathon! I'm seriously so proud of him!! He didn't have as much time to train as he hoped but he still did awesome and met all his goals and says he'd like to do it again :)

Here he comes!! (In the black and red striped shirt)

Go, baby! Go!

His actual time was 2:19:22. Seriously awesome!
There were thousands of people running it, so not everyone gets to cross the starting line right at the beginning.

Proud wife & baby. Tired, tired hubby.

I wanted to do something special for Darwin to show him how proud I was of him, but I was very last minute and ended up just putting Aurora in a onesie that I wrote "Daddy is my HERO" on. She smelled like permanent marker all day :)

He crashed on the couch after a nice soak in the bathtub. I don't blame him.

Good job, babe!! We're so proud of you for setting that goal and reaching it! Maybe I'll do it with you next time. Maybe.

The Professor: At the end of June, Dar started teaching at UVU as an adjunct professor! I knew he loved it when I picked him up after his first day teaching and he had the BIGGEST smile on his face :) Teaching college is pretty different from teaching junior high, as anyone can imagine. That's what's been keeping him so busy this summer. He teaches for almost 3 hours a day Monday through Thursday, but he spends most of his time preparing his lessons and weekly quizzes. He's had some late nights staying up to prepare for the next day, and yesterday I caught him snoozing while he was supposed to be working :)
It's been an intense summer semester block--only 7 weeks long from start to finish. But he really does love it. He even decided to take on another class in the fall! Luckily it's Intro to Oceanography, which is a class he's already been teaching this summer so he won't have as much prepping he'll have to do. And the supplemental income is nice too. I'm not complaining. But in all seriousness, we're both glad he has the opportunity to teach at the college level and that he's liked it so much so far. We may even see a Ph. D. in our future? Stay tuned to find out!

Baby girl & other happenings...

2011-07-31T20:45:00.002-06:00

I feel like I'm never going to get caught up on the things we've been doing, despite our almost non-existent summer with Dar working. (I SO appreciate everything you do, Bunches! YOU'RE THE BEST!!) So this is kind of a long post so I can feel more caught up on my blogging.

First things first--of course it's Rori :) She has 2 teeth now! Both came in this last week. Her little grin has gotten even cuter (didn't know that was possible). Although I still have yet to catch those pearly whites on the camera.

She's working really hard on trying to crawl..she gets a rug-burn on her forehead because she digs it into the ground. Silly.

So proud of herself for her effort :)

My cousin loaned us her exersaucer...Rori likes it as long as she doesn't have to be in it too long. I think her legs get tired.

She wanted to help me fold laundry the other day by holding onto the basket, so Dar just stuck her in it while it was full of clothes. She thought it was pretty cool.

Since she learned to roll over in her sleep she almost never sleeps on her back anymore.

And she usually wiggles out of her blanket by the time we check on her in the morning.

She's not sucking her thumb...just likes it in her mouth.

2nd: Camping [again]--This last weekend we took Rori on her 3rd campout this month! Our ward (a.k.a. church congregation) had a BBQ and campout on Friday, and we had a great time. Everyone was surprised we were staying overnight with such a young baby, and then even more surprised when we told them it was her 3rd time camping. Woot! Woot! We don't let having a new baby stop us from doing fun stuff! :)

My honeys

Snuggling my sleeping munchkin

The sunset was beautiful! We had an amazing view of the valley from the pavilion.

So pretty!

We had a really pretty sunrise the next morning too, and we got sprinkled on a little bit.

I bust up laughing every time I look at this picture. She's trying to feed herself rice cereal. You go, girl!

And last but not least: Food stuff!

Using my kitchen aid mixer (this was shortly after I got it, but I'm a little slow on the posting)

First thing made in the mixer...chocolate chip cookies! YUM!

We got our first crop of green beans from our garden. Super tasty! I just can't resist posting a picture.

And the other night I made these Stuffed Pizza Rolls I found on this website. Their rolls look tons better, and I actually got a bit frustrated because I couldn't get mine to roll up like they were supposed to--I made Dar take over. They still tasted great though and I'll have to give them another shot.

Still to come...Catching up on my #1 man and the cool stuff he's done this summer!

P.S. Can you believe tomorrow is August 1st?!?!

Family Camp-out 2011

2011-07-27T12:35:00.000-06:00

Dar's sister, Georgiana, was in town this last week from Pittsburgh, and while she was here we thought it would be fun to do a family camp-out. I know we had a great time, and the kids are all stoked for next year's camp-out and want to do it for a whole week next time! I think we're pretty safe to say it was a success...let's do it again!

The hammock's were a big hit with the kids
(Sean swinging Emma)

Rori loved chewing on Grandma's chain for her glasses

Allison showing me she could fit in Rori's bumbo

Rori munching on Anna Janna's finger with her newly surfaced 1st tooth!

Sharing a spoon with Aunt Dre

We made scrumptious tin foil dinners!

Dar made really yummy cherry cobbler and peach cobbler! (Not to mention we had smores later on too!) Delish!

Cool shot Dar took of the fire

Uncle Ryan chilling by the fire drinking his DP

I was trying to get a shot of Dar & Rori together...classic that Andrea jumped in the shot. Rori thought it was funny :)

My two blue-eyed babes

Me and my princess! Love this girl!

Dar serenading us with his hidden harmonica talent

After Rori & I went to bed, the adults and older kiddos stayed up and had some fun with the glow sticks

Cool shot of the stars--You can see them if you enlarge the picture

Aurora slept AWESOME! She took over my sleeping bag in the morning when I left the tent for a minute. Cutie pie.

Out and about and ready for breakfast!

Grandma & Grandpa D spoiled us with a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes (which Dar actually cooked), and all you could eat bacon, sausage, and eggs! Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!

Fried eggs and sausage cooked in bacon grease...Need I say more? Yum!

We went through 4 pounds of bacon, but I think Allie ate about a pound all by herself ;)

Me and my baby enjoying breakfast

Rori hung out with Grandpa (lovingly known as "The Loud Thing") during cleanup. She liked wearing his hat :)

And to close up the trip, Dar & Geo played a long game of horse shoes

Dar finally won by ringing his shoe around Geo's pole. :)

Thanks for a fun camping trip! And it was great to have you for a few days, George. We love you all!!

the Y

2011-07-23T16:40:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday, Dar & I had the opportunity to brave hiking the Y here in good ol' Provo, UT. It's a BIG concrete Y up on the mountain that thousands of people visit each year. Someone said it's the biggest concrete letter in the world...but I didn't check the facts on that. We went with the youth from church and several leaders. I was invited to go because they needed more female adult leaders to hike, and since Dar is one of the adult male leaders I was happy to join them and hang out with him a bit more. It's been 5 years since we last hiked the Y and it was a good reminder as to how steep that hike is! We had a great time though. We considered taking Rori up the mountain with us, but I was glad that my friend, Jenn, volunteered to stay behind with her. Working our way up the steep trail was hard enough as it is...but totally worth it! I definitely recommend hiking the Y yourself if you're in the area and have never hiked the it before.

Just getting started!
Heather, Jenn, Aurora & me

Happy to be at the top together

Our group
(You can kind-of see the big white Y on the mountain in the background if you enlarge the picture)

Totally fun, and a great work out! I told Dar we should hike the Y once a month :)

First Camping Trip!

2011-07-21T11:11:00.001-06:00

We took Aurora on her first camping trip a week ago...the first of 4 we'll be doing in the next little while. She did awesome! Last Thursday we went up the canyon with our Aussie friends to do an over-nighter, and it was a blast! We ended up with 4 adults, 5 kids and 2 babies. No joke. A handful, but so much fun! I'm sure people kept driving past our campsite thinking, "Those crazy Mormon families!" Just kidding. Although, I guess they really could have been thinking that. But Jared & Tracee invited 3 nieces and a nephew to join us and help keep their little girl, R, entertained. It worked! The kids all did great.

This was actually the night before we went camping--we had hotdogs & smores up the canyon for practice :)

Look how good our little girl is sitting!

P picks on Aurora a little bit, but it's just because he's bigger, can crawl already, and he thinks she's pretty cute!

The campground we were at had this little park and while we were there the kids decided they wanted to play hide-and-seek. This was Dar's hiding spot :)

After eating hotdogs for dinner, Dar & Jared left Tracee & I with the kids for an hour or so while they came back down the canyon to get some stuff done. When they got back we had smores and some other goodies, but I didn't get any pictures.

Fast forward to the next morning...I left our tent to get the camera so we could take a family picture of our first camping trip with Rori and this is what I found when I got back:

We bundled her up so she'd be nice and warm, but she still woke up (not sure what time) early in the morning with a chilly nose and cheeks so I stuck her in my sleeping bag with me and warmed her up with some morning snuggle time. But for most of the night she slept on her own mattress which is actually the pad from her changing table :)

Classic for Rori right now...tongue always out!
Full body shot so you can see her cute little sleep-sack

Documentation of our first (of many, many more to come, I'm sure) camping trips with our kid(s)

7.11.11 - 6 months!

2011-07-19T10:23:00.000-06:00

Yep. 6 months already! We can hardly believe it. Our lives have changed so much over the last 6 months but in a very positive way. We love being parents to this beautiful little girl!

Rori's 6 month stats:
Weight: 14 lbs 10 oz (21%)
Length: 25 in (22%)
Head: 40 cm (1%)

She's still our teeny little bobbin but at least she is growing :) She's been pretty cranky since getting her immunizations yesterday but it doesn't help that she's teething either. We still can't see anything coming through her gums yet, but she's definitely working on those little pearly whites.
At 6 months:
-She's such a serious baby, but very happy and mellow.
-She's can sit really well on her own for a while but we still watch her pretty close because she's not a happy camper when she falls backwards.
-She loves taking baths in the big bathtub--tons more space for kicking and splashing water at Mom & Dad.
-She wore shoes for the first time last week!
-She's really starting to migrate on the floor and can push herself up really well too. We're going to have a crawler on our hands before we know it!
-She can push herself backwards, forwards, and in circles with her scooting.
-Rori's syllables: mama, dada, papa, baba, yaya, and wawa. We swear she's trying to say her name sometimes when she says "A-wa-wa." So cute :) And a couple weeks ago when she was hungry I was working on getting her bottle together and she kept saying over and over, "Mama, baba. Mama, baba." Smart little girl!
-She loves when we "eat" her ribs. She can't help but laugh even when she's fussy.
-She doesn't mind the grass and can sit better in it than just on the floor. She sat for 10 minutes straight a few days ago in the grass without me needing to catch her!
-We think she's taking after Mom & Dad in the sleep talking arena. We've caught her babbling to herself in her sleep a couple times.
-She usually wakes up pretty happy and we love waking up to her cute little voice talking to the little lady bug on her crib bumper. Such a little sweetheart.

Recent Developments

2011-07-12T21:34:00.000-06:00

*Warning: Rori picture overload in this post!*

Aurora is at such a fun age and it seems like she's learning something new just about every day! Here's just a few of the things that have been going on with our little munchkin:

She finally graduated to the "big bathtub," and she can sit on her own (mostly)!
She rediscovered her tongue...she'd been sticking it out a lot a while ago but just started it up again.
These next few pictures crack me up :D
She really enjoys working on her keyboarding skills
I love that she looks like I'm interrupting her work in this picture
She loves sticking those cute little piggies in her mouth!
Practicing her balancing skills with Uncle Jared
Sporting some perfectly pink sunnies from Build-a-Bear
And she's still the cutest little sleeper, EVER!
We love you, Rori girl!

Proud to be an American!

2011-07-07T10:07:00.000-06:00

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. Hands down. It was even better this year just because we have our sweet little munchkin with us. So what if she slept through the fireworks...and half of the parade? Oh yeah, and the Freedom Festival. She's the sweetest. Everything just seems better now that we have a baby in our family. Holiday's especially seem more fun automatically. Not that things weren't great before though.

In all seriousness, I am so proud to be an American. Dar and I both got a bit emotional when the flag went past us at the parade. I am so grateful for the service men and women who currently serve our country, have served our country in the past, and those who will in the future. We are able to enjoy the freedoms we do because of their service, and I am forever grateful for their sacrifices and the sacrifices of their families. I'm grateful to have so many relatives who have served our country, and especially grateful for the faith of our founding fathers. Our country wouldn't be what it is without the hand of God. It's sad to me that so many people seem to be losing their patriotism. We need to find it again. No questions asked.

Anyway, we hope you had a great time celebrating the freedom of our country just like we did. Now for the visuals :)

We had the whole weekend to celebrate. Fireworks were on Saturday.

The little lady liked the glow-sticks.

When the fireworks were over we got cozy & laid in the grass for an hour to let traffic die down a little bit. It worked! Plus, it was so nice to just lay in the grass, nice warm weather, just our little family (okay, and maybe some other people had the same idea too).

Our sweet baby getting sleepy at the parade on Monday

Fun, super easy, festive idea we made that I found on this blog. Loved them!

Our first Independence Day as a family :)

Our little fish

2011-07-05T10:23:00.000-06:00

We finally took Aurora swimming for the first time last week. To sum it all up...SHE LOVED IT! I think we have a little fish in our midst. It was so much fun to watch her play in the water that I can see a lot more trips to the pool in our future.

We thought she looked a bit like the Pope with her swim diaper cover on her head

The swim diapers look HUGE on her!

In her festive swimsuit and ready to head to the pool

Getting ready to take a dip for the first time

She was a little distracted by the other kids at the pool, but Dar was so happy to finally be back in the water...it's been over a year since we've gone to our pool.

She kept sucking the water off her fingers. Gross!

My two little swimmers :)
Getting some wet loves from R
So loving the water! She'd kick her legs and splash water in her face with her arms. So cute!
Our happy little fish
Man! We love this girl!!

1st photobook!

2011-07-05T10:09:00.000-06:00

I recently got a sweet promotion from Shutterfly through the Motherhood Maternity store for a free 8x8 photobook, I just had to pay shipping and handling (which was almost $9! but still, a sweet offer), so I took the opportunity to try my hand at my first photobook project. I LOVED it!! Shutterfly made it super easy to make it look like I'm creative and I seriously need all the help I can get because I swear I don't have one creative bone in my body. I was so happy when my book came in the mail on my birthday last Monday! Great timing. If you've never tried a photobook online, I would definitely recommend it. Our book is kind of personal so I'm not going to post it for everyone to see, but I hope you'll just take my word for it and make sign up with Shutterfly to make a book of your own!

Quarter Centurion

2011-06-28T22:09:00.001-06:00

I turned 25 yesterday. Happy birthday to me! I honestly don't feel old at all...Yet. I am now the age Darwin was when we got married. That's kind of weird, but totally cool at the same time. Yes. You read that correctly, and if you did the math right after reading that Dar just turned 31 on Friday, you just figured out that I was 19 when we got married. Young, I know. But I wouldn't change it for anything! I can't believe how fast time flies, but life is absolutely wonderful.

Yesterday was as good as could be. Dar started a new job (more to come on that later) so I got to hang out with Rori and then when Dar got done we hung out with him too. We took our Aussie friends out to dinner at 5 Guys (or we ate with 3 boys, which is what their daughter, R, told her grandma on the phone when we were done eating) and then came home and hung out some more. Perfect. But my favorite part of the day was opening my birthday present from my awesome hubby. He got me one of these beauties:
I can't even tell you how happy I am! I've been wanting one for a while and it was totally a surprise when I opened it. Thanks, Babe. You're seriously the best!! And thanks for the birthday wishes everyone. Now that my birthday is past, only 6 more months until CHRISTMAS!! Not that I'm counting down or anything....

Happy Birthday, My Love!

2011-06-24T21:15:00.001-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my love!

You are 31 today.
I love you more and more with each passing day.
You amaze me.
Thank you for being my best friend and the best husband a girl could ask for.
You have brought more happiness and sunshine into my life than I could ever hope for.
You rock!
And I think you're pretty hot too.

Love, Wifey
xoxoxo

I am a Mormon mommy + Followers

2011-06-22T08:31:00.000-06:00

I was recently made aware of an online article called "Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs" and ventured over to read it. I thought it was interesting that the author of the article who knows very little of our beliefs finds reading about LDS women so fascinating and it started me thinking about the readers of our blog. I know our blog doesn't even come close to being as fun or entertaining to read as the Mormon housewives she mentions in the article, but we know that there are people who read our blog who don't know us and who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as we are. We do know many of you because you either went high school with Darwin or me, or we just grew up together. You are our family. You are our friends. We have gone to church together over the years, we've worked together, or maybe we know you through other connections. And I'm betting that most of you are complete strangers who we've never met, but you venture over to read our blog anyway, and we'd like to thank you for visiting. We're not trying to toot our own horn, but we'd like to find out why people visit our blog. Leave us a comment. We'd love to get to know our readers better!

We also just wanted to let everyone know that we added in the "followers" gadget on the right hand side of our blog again. We know from our globe just above it that people from all over the world have at least visited our blog since February when we added that gadget to our side bar, but again, we'd like to get to know our readers better. Don't be shy. Leave us a comment!! And of course, feel free to add yourself as a follower! If you're already a follower that's awesome, thanks. And thanks again for visiting our blog, especially if you're a frequent visitor. Oh yeah, I'm not sure if I said it already...leave us a comment and tell us a bit about yourself! :)

1st Father's Day!

2011-06-21T12:14:00.001-06:00

I love these two more than I could ever express in words. I am so grateful to have Darwin as my incredible husband--he is the perfect man for me! He is the best daddy to our beautiful baby girl and she loves him so much already! They have such fun together and I can't wait to see how their relationship flourishes and blossoms.

Thank you, Dar, with all my heart, for being far better than the man of my dreams and for being the best daddy in the world to our precious princess! I hope we were able to show you on your special day how very much you mean to us. Happy 1st Father's Day, babe! We love you!!

Firsts

2011-06-18T15:09:00.000-06:00

It's been a fun week in terms of new things happening and experiencing firsts. Aurora rolled from her back to her belly for the first time on Wednesday (although she's been rolling onto her side and from her belly to her back for quite a while now). She discovered her tongue and will just let it hang out of her mouth (hilarious!), and she discovered that the feet she's been staring at and talking to are fun to grab onto now. I love watching her grab her cute little piggies. What am I saying? I love everything about this little girl who has become so much a part of our lives in the last 5 months!!

A few other firsts...Aurora experienced her first hot air balloon festival. We got up bright and early last Friday to go watch some hot air balloons launch for Art City Days. It's one of our favorite things to see in the summertime, although it was the first time Dar & I have been to this particular balloon festival together. We usually go to the balloon launch for the Freedom Festival around the 4th of July--mostly because it's bigger and has a lot more balloons :)

Rori slept through most of it. Probably not a bad thing.

We had to get a picture of Dar with this balloon because it's MSU colors & he was wearing his MSU attire. Go Bulldogs!

Just happy to be outside

Aurora also experienced her first campfire/outdoor barbeque. So fun! It'll be even better when she can enjoy the delicious food and more importantly, s'mores!! I'm glad I can actually enjoy barbeque's this summer--it was one of the worst smells for me last year with morning sickness. So not fun.
And most important/exciting is that Aurora tried rice cereal for her first time on Tuesday!

She wasn't sure what to do at first and I had to help her open her mouth.

Mmm! I definitely think she was more interested in the spoon rather than the food.

So we eventually just gave her the spoon to chew on.

I'd say it was a success for being her first time. She did awesome! We can't wait for more fun "first adventures" to come!

6.11.11 - 5 months!

2011-06-16T10:37:00.000-06:00

Another month has passed and our little sweetheart is 5 months old! She gets more and more fun every single day as her little personality continues to surface and she's seriously such a joy to be around. I'm so glad I get to hang out with her every day...I'm so blessed to be a stay-at-home-mom! We love watching her grow and learn new things. Maybe it's just first-time-parent-syndrome, but every little new thing she does is so exciting to us and she's learned to do a lot of new things this past month.

At 5 months:
-Rori has been blowing raspberries for about a month now. She LOVES to blow raspberries and makes a big slobbery mess while she's at it. Sometimes she sticks her fingers in her mouth while blowing raspberries and it looks like she's trying to whistle.
-It's getting MUCH easier to make her laugh and she laughs a whole lot more. Can't get enough of that little giggle!!
-She is ticklish and loves to be tickled.
-She prefers to stand when someone is holding her and everyone comments on how strong she is.
-She's REALLY good at rolling from her belly to her back and rolled from her back to her belly for the first time on her own last night! Yay!
-She is becoming much more vocal (we think she likes to hear her own voice but we love it too so we're not shy about encouraging her) and she has even learned to "sing" a little bit (watch the video if you haven't already). She makes our hearts happy!
-She likes to try to suck her thumb while drinking her bottle. It's quite hilarious but extremely messy too.
-She tried rice cereal for the first time on Tuesday!
-She's still working on holding her bottle by herself.
-Her hair is growing in much more fully and it's much lighter than it was when she was born. We think she might be a blondy like her Mom with blue eyes like her Daddy.
-She has really discovered her feet and will hang on to those cute little piggies while she talks to them. So cute!
-We think she's teething, but nothing showing through yet.
-We also think she's going to be a Mommy's girl.
-She loves when we hold her over our head and tell her she's "Super Girl!"
-She's pretty petite and mostly wears 0-3 month clothes still.
-She knows she's a princess and will smile when we tell her she is. Love it!
-Words she has managed to say but doesn't know it include: Mom (see our 4 month update post), poop, and ow. Last night she even signed Mom (I think she was really just trying to get her thumb in her mouth, but I can pretend, right?). I think she likes me! ;)
-She's getting better at grabbing for things and will probably be crawling before we know it! Time to baby-proof our house!
-She loves to watch TV but we try to keep her distracted with other things so she doesn't watch it too much.
-She's such a good little snuggler and I can't get enough of it!
-She loves to give her Momma smooches & I love when she comes at me with her hands on my cheeks and that little mouth wide open....priceless.
-She lifts her legs when we change her diaper & LOVES to have a clean bum.
-She loves when Daddy comes home from work and she gets the chance to play and hang out with him for a little while after hanging out with Mom all day.

And of course some pictures of our darling little munchkin.

Yep. I'm pretty sure she has all 5 fingers in there.

I absolutely LOVE this one. Our peaceful little sleeping girl.

Rori and her Roo from our best friends.

Hanging on to Kate, her giraffe.

I think she was excited or something. Haha. Dar was trying to get a picture of her eyes because they look metallic sometimes when the light hits her dark blue eyes just right. It's super cool.

She loves this little ribbon blanket (thanks, Paige!), I love her grin :)

Her face cracks me up in this one.

Our little jester. What a cutie.

Practicing holding her bottle by herself.

Farewell to Union Middle School

2011-06-13T08:36:00.001-06:00

In June of 2007 I interviewed at Union Middle School. I was looking for jobs after graduation at UVU and there was not much to be had in the Nebo, Provo, and Alpine districts. My next best options was in Salt Lake County in the Jordan district. There were two science positions opened at the time at; one at Indian Hills Middle School and the other at Union. I applied for both. Shortly after I found out that my colleague that I graduated with, Jen Muir, just been hired at Union. She let the principal, Mary Anderson (best principal in the world by the way), know of my interest and put in a good word for me before my interview. The interview went great and I was hired before I even left the room. Thus began the first four years of my career. There have definitely been ups and downs. What could you expect from young teenagers?

There were pros and cons to be at Union. The greatest cons were the drive and the insurance. Living in Springville, Union is about 40 miles from home, making the daily commute 80 miles total. In a school year I would commute 14,400 miles. The drive took nearly 45 minutes each way. This totals 270 hours worth of driving in a school year. The insurance premiums were very high, $455 to cover my family for medical insurance. It was a hard decision, but I thought it best to find a school closer to home rather than move closer to Union.
Cleaning out my room was filled with the memories of the past. These walls echo the voices of students and teachers. The oo's and ah's of science demos, the excited looks followed by "I get it now!", the laughter from a teacher's goofy personality. In this room lives have been changed, hearts have been touched, and courses altered.
As I sit in my chair and look around this room, tears start to fill my eyes as I know I will never see it again as the teacher. I think of my hundreds of students that have passed through here, some that still come back to visit and declare that I was their favorite teacher. My heart will always long for them and wish them the best success in their lives. I am now a part of these walls, posted as if a piece of a collage with all the other teachers that have served here, and with their legacies, forever a part of this school.
My time here now has ended and a new stage of my life has begun. I will be now teaching at Mount Nebo Jr. High in Payson. But for now, this is Mr. Deming...room 709...signing off.

Best Laugh Yet!

2011-05-31T14:56:00.000-06:00

Dar & I were talking about the things we needed to get done yesterday. I told him I was going to go fold my last load of laundry and Rori thought it was hilarious. Luckily she kept laughing so I pulled out the video camera. Hence why I mention the laundry in the video...she thought it was funny. She's been laughing for a while now but yesterday was the best laughs we've heard so far! Hope you love it as much as we do!

NEWBORN PHOTOS!

2011-05-25T11:23:00.000-06:00

I know Rori is way past newborn stage, but click here to check out a sampling of her adorable newborn photos. She was 2 weeks old when we had these taken. Thanks again, Travis!

My hubby's new hobby

2011-05-23T09:21:00.000-06:00

Remember this post from last September? Well, my honey is now in the business of honey; better known as beekeeping. Anyone who knows my adorable science savvy hubby knows that when he finds something he's interested in, he takes it on wholeheartedly and he does an amazing job with it! Springtime is the time to prepare your beehive and this year Dar is living his dream (that really only began last fall).

Two weeks ago Dar bought his beehives and his new hobby has just taken off since then. It's actually been pretty neat for both of us to learn about these incredible creatures and how important they are in our lives. I guess I've never really thought about it before now, but honeybees are pretty neat! (And unfortunately their numbers have really been declining over the last few years. Not good if you like to eat food!) It'll be fun for both of us to experience the process of beekeeping and we'll keep you posted on this new adventure.

The bee boxes before getting a nice coat of paint to keep them from weathering

Dar's bees hard at work
He could just sit in front of the hive and watch the bees work for hours. If only he had the time. *sigh*

Pretty cool!

And here's some really awesome shots he got yesterday of one of his little worker bees hard at work harvesting nectar.

And of course, his two leading ladies sporting twinner flowers he gave us :)

5.11.11 - 4 months!

2011-05-18T11:41:00.000-06:00

I can't believe how fast time is flying by & that our baby girl is already 4 months old!! She is seriously spoiling us rotten and everyone tells us to not expect the next one to be as good to us as she is. But we can hope, right?

Rori's 4 month stats:

Weight: 12 lbs 4 oz (21%)
Length: 24.5 in (60%)
Head: 39 cm (7%)

Here's a cute video of Rori talking to me a few days ago. So cute! :)

And of course no blog post would be complete without a picture or two of our darling little munchkin. We love you, sweet girl!

LOVE those chubby little cheeks!

This one made me laugh. She's really strong but still doesn't like to do tummy time very much. She's not even crying, just complaining :)

At 4 months:
-She's getting better at laughing more and more. We love it!
-She rolled over for the first time on my mom's birthday 5.10.11, and is still working on doing it again on her own. (She actually did roll over again later the same night I posted this. You go, girl!)
-She sleeps through the night most nights, and even when she doesn't she's still a really good sleeper and will go right back to sleep after she eats.
-She loves to sit and will lean forward enough to get into a full sitting position when we prop her up on a pillow or in the corner of the couch. She LOVES to sit! We have to watch her really well though because she's not strong enough to stay sitting yet and usually topples over :)
-She loves bath time more and more and is really getting into kicking her feet and splashing water all over us!
-She starting "talking" more in the last couple of weeks. Sometimes I'll be busy doing something and she'll just entertain herself by talking to her hand or the fan or whatever catches her eye. I love it! Her little voice is seriously to die for!
-She's working on saying "mom" and it makes me so proud! (Watch the video if you haven't already.)
-She's working on regrowing some of her hair because I finally scrapped off her cradle cap and she lost a good amount of hair with it.
-She learned to suck her thumb but likes to suck on her fingers too. Lately she mostly just gags herself. Silly girl.
-She is very alert and really soaks in everything around her.

The "Greats"

2011-05-12T11:31:00.000-06:00

Rori is pretty lucky in that she still has 4 great-grandparents living, and she's been able to meet all of them already! In this day and age where divorce is unfortunately so common, I think it's wonderful that this little girl's parents, both sets of grandparents, and all of her great-grandparents are all still married to each other (and for those who have passed on, they were still married before they died!). How lucky she is!

She got to meet her Great Grandpa and Omie first
{My mom's parents}

Then she met Granny Great
{My dad's mom--age 90.5}

And on Mother's Day she got to meet Great Grandmother Jennings
{Dar's mom's mom--age 89.5}

We are so blessed to have all these wonderful people around who have taught us so much and who we love so dearly! And Rori is especially blessed to have met them!

It was a success!!

2011-05-10T11:42:00.000-06:00

Today is my mom's {50th} birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Since it's a big one, my siblings and I decided to throw my mom a surprise party on Saturday and it was a huge success! She had no idea, we had a great turn out, good food, the weather was perfect, and we got to see some old family friends we haven't seen in years! Thanks to everyone who came & also to my sisters and Dad who flawlessly executed a well thought out plan to get my mom out of the house and back in time. We were all very happy with how the party went. We love you, Mom! Thanks for everything you do for our family!

Setting up decorations, with my brother in the background acting as our look-out

She's here!

Surprised & happy!

Mom's long-time friend, Carrie

Happy to see me again (4 times in 1 week!)

Surprised to see my baby brother too!

And my best friend who recently returned from Australia!

P was getting in on the fun too. So cute!

My beautiful baby girl

And no family party or get together would be complete without playing with blankets

Yes, there are 4 kids in that blanket!

And some of the older kids had to get in on the fun too.Getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday"

My Dad singing his traditional English style "Happy Birthday" song
(He served his mission in England)

Bob & Andrea singing their family's traditional "Happy Birthday" song

My mom's awesome cake--Thanks again, Shelly!

Cutting the cake

Miss Abbie

Ben & me

And she got lots of great gifts!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!
WE LOVE YOU!

We've been busy!

2011-05-08T10:15:00.001-06:00

We've made several trips up north in the last week for different events:

Liam turned 3!

It was a little chilly but we stayed cozy :)

Dar gave Rori her first driving lesson. I think she might be an aggressive driver...just look at that face!

So focused

Andrea & Sean got married!!

Husband and Wife
It was a beautiful day, but just a bit chilly for me!
Our sweet princess!
Bundled up and sitting in the sun to stay warm
Beautiful flowers on the temple grounds
So Andrea. We love you! :)
Family photo. Rori had fallen asleep though. Sweet thing.
Connie, a good family friend/cousin got married:

Another reason we've been busy:
If you've been reading our blog for a while you might remember these guys:
They've been living in Australia for the past year and a half but...they're back!!! They surprised us by showing up on our doorstep the Tuesday after Easter. We're so glad to have them home with us and love having our family complete again :)

And just for kicks:
Our little sleeping gnome :)

A couple weeks ago Rori discovered she could suck on her thumb. She's gotten it in her mouth and just chewed on it but now she likes to suck on it, and she's not very quiet about it either! SO cute! We also have to keep a hat on her head or socks on her hands at night and when she's sleepy because she scratches and digs at her head :(

Rori teaching Dar how to properly ingest a burp cloth

She fell asleep while she and I were watching UP. Cutie pie.

On Saturday, April 30th, Rori belly laughed for the first time--her first real giggle. So stinkin' adorable! We were at Banana Republic in the mall and Dar found a green straw hat and put it on just for kicks (we didn't even think Rori was paying attention) and she totally laughed at him!! He then put on a blue hat but it was just the green one that she liked, I guess. We couldn't believe it! She's been laughing a lot more since then...like when we play peek-a-boo, or tell her we love her over and over again, or do "so big" with her arms. Her laugh is seriously to die for! We can't get enough of it. Well, we just can't get enough of this little girl in general. She is such a joy and we're loving watching her personality develop! Hopefully we'll get her laugh on video soon!

Our Precious Princess

2011-04-26T12:36:00.000-06:00

Seven weeks after the fact, we finally took pictures of Rori in her blessing dress that Grandma made for her. She wasn't very smiley, but we still got some super cute pictures:
We love this little girl more than we can say in words. We love watching her grow and learn new things. She sucked her thumb for the first time yesterday and she's still working on her laugh. Hopefully we'll post videos soon. Thanks again, Grandma D, for all the hard work and love you put into making her beautiful blessing dress! We love you!

EASTER

2011-04-25T15:59:00.000-06:00

Rori and I were able to go up to Idaho with my family again on Saturday for a bbq and an Easter egg hunt in the apple orchard at Granny Great's house. It was hard to see Granny Great looking much weaker and more tired than when we were up there a few weeks ago. We're trying to soak in every last second we get to spend with her and crossing our fingers that we get to have her around with us for as long as she'll stay :) (Dar was at a beekeeping class so he wasn't able to come with us this time.)

Bri, Koda, Hannah, & Liam getting ready to go find some eggs!

Some of the crew on the hunt for eggs & candy

Rori got to snuggle with Nanny while I took pictures. She slept through the whole hunt. Maybe next year she'll be more interested :)

My sweet grandma & me

Dar sang in an octet at church yesterday & did wonderfully! I got to help out with sharing time in Primary by pretending to be Mary Magdalene. It was a spiritual experience for me and I appreciated the opportunity to help out in the Primary again, even if it was for just one Sunday. I am so grateful to know that my Savior, Jesus Christ, atoned for my sins and died for me. But I am even more grateful to know that He was resurrected and that He still lives!

My sweet family on Easter

With our Easter dinner we had this yummy peep sunflower cake. Good job, Grandma & Andrea! It was delish!

Woot! Woot!

2011-04-18T18:25:00.000-06:00

Rori slept through the night last night for the first time! Woot! Woot! She fell asleep around 10pm and didn't wake up to eat until 6:30am. Then she went back to sleep until 9am! This is one happy momma!

April 21, 2011 - She slept through the night again last night (from 9pm to 5 am, then back to sleep until 8:30am)! Hopefully we'll make this a regular occurrence!

4.11.11 - 3 Months!

2011-04-12T14:17:00.000-06:00

It's official. I've decided that time is flying WAY too fast! 3 months already? Seriously? It's amazing how this little girl makes me fall more and more in love with her every day. I know I probably post way more pictures of the munchkin than anyone really cares to look at and they probably mostly look the same anyway, but I personally can't get enough of her!! These next pictures are from different times throughout the last week:

We stick her in the carseat so we can go running at our clubhouse. (Dar is training to run a 1/2 marathon in June.) She usually does really well! Once the weather warms up a little more we'll take her with us in our new jogging stroller!

Our beautiful little sleeping beauty!

Her sleep positions still crack me up.

We like to snuggle in the mornings with Daddy on the weekends when he's home with us. She loves it!

We have ourselves a little TV watcher. Uh-oh!

And yesterday we wanted to take some pictures so we can remember what she looks like at 3 months. Dar was trying to get her to smile while I took pictures. She was just so stinkin' cute with her daddy!

She sure loves her daddy, but he loves her even more!!

Smooches from Dad + hands in the mouth. Can't get much better!

At 3 months:
-She loves to take baths & cries when bath-time is over.
-She makes the cutest little sound with her mouth {a-pu} all the time, and will do it back to us when we do it to her first. We've decided it's how she says "I love you" because she seriously does it all the time. So cute!
-She coos and coos when you talk to her. She especially loves Daddy's voice and loves when he sings to her.
-She recognizes when someone other than Mom or Dad is holding her.
-She loves to have her bum changed. She gets so happy when we lay her on the changing table. Funny girl.
-We moved her from her bassinet to her crib for the first time on 4-9-11. She's doing pretty good, but the first night was awful. It was our worst night since bringing her home. Seriously.
-She's still a pretty good sleeper and will generally give us a 5.5 hour stretch for the first part of the night, then she wants to eat every 3 hours after that.
-She loves sitting up and is working on rolling over. She really likes to lay on her side, but not so much on her tummy.
-She's starting to focus on toys but really just likes to play with Mom & Dad.
-She prefers to suck on her hands or her blanket rather than a pacifier, unless she's hungry or super tired.
-She is a super happy & mellow baby. She's usually super smiley when she wakes up in the morning and after naps.
-She's still working on finding her laugh.
-She is the cutest little thing and we love her so much!!!

Weekend trip to Idaho.

2011-04-04T10:09:00.000-06:00

My grandma was in the hospital last week :( Granted she is 90 years old and is still in great shape compared to a lot of other people her age, it's still scary when you realize your time left with a loved one is coming to a close. She was having a hard time breathing, and she is now on oxygen for the rest of her life. She and I determined that it's a fad for people her age to be on oxygen ;) Grandma was in good spirits and glad to be home from the hospital, but there was a difference in how tired she seemed compared to when we saw her back in September. It was so nice to go spend a few hours with her though! We were only able to do a day-trip, so we had about 8 hours of driving in one day and A did great!! She slept probably 85% of the trip.

Us chilling in the back of the van. Thanks for driving, Dad!

4 generations. These photos are such treasures!

Talking to mom and granny-great
She was totally out of it the whole ride home. I'm glad she's such a good little traveler, but I felt bad that she was in the carseat for so long on Saturday. You're such a little trooper, A!

Just because.

2011-04-01T12:05:00.000-06:00

My mom got this adorable little build-a-bear "love bug" for A for her blessing because we have a lady bug theme in her room:

And just because we can, A and I played dress-up today :)

How cute is that? Then do you remember our Australia day post? A wore this outfit to celebrate:

See how big the outfit was on her? I had even folded the hat under to make it fit her better. Well, she tried the outfit on again today, just 2 months later...look how much she's grown!

This is her leaning forward so she can sit up better. She loves to sit!

We love our little chunk-a-monk and seriously can't get enough of her!! She is getting so big and learning so much. This morning she was working on:
ROLLING OVER

and LIFTING HER HEAD

She loves to:
GIVE KISSES

and HANG OUT WITH DADDY/WATCH THE TV

And just for kicks, here's another comparison. A is 2 days old in the first picture:

And she's 2.5 months in this one:

We hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures!
Happy APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Can you see it?

2011-03-28T11:29:00.000-06:00

A is holding her head up so well on her own now that I decided to try out the Bumbo last Thursday. She loved it! She really loves sitting up right now. When we're holding her or she's laying down she'll lift her head up to let us know she wants to sit. It's so cute and I love the little ways she communicates with us right now.
I love that she's still so teeny but getting bigger too. We moved her up from new born to 0-3 months size clothes last week. We are also taking her to church now (but not letting anyone hold her yet) and she's done awesome and pretty much sleeps the whole time. It's funny to me how many comments we get that "she looks like a little doll!" But my favorite is when people say, "She looks just like her daddy!" And the general consensus is that she does look like D. Can you see it?

Darling baby D

And cute me as a baby :)

Overwhelmed.

2011-03-28T10:50:00.000-06:00

That is how my sweet hubby has been feeling the last few weeks. He has seriously been so busy and pretty stressed, but I think things are slowing down a little bit now. Thank goodness! He has 3 callings in our ward (not really sure why...we seriously have plenty of people to fill the positions). And not only does he have 3 callings, but they're all pretty major callings: 2nd counselor in the young men's presidency, scout master, and gospel doctrine teacher (it's my fault he still has this one though--they asked if he wanted to be released from teaching Sunday school when he was called into the YM presidency but I wasn't ready to teach on my own yet so I told him he had to keep teaching with me). He never complains though. He is that wonderful! He just gets super busy at times.

Even before he was called as the scout master, D was pretty much starting up the scouting program in our ward from scratch because not much had been done to get the program rolling forward. But now that he's the official scout master in the ward he completed a HUGE accomplishment this last week. He organized and held our ward's first court of honor! Granted, it's a fairly new ward (about 5 years old) and we don't have very many young men, but it's sad for the boys that no one has ever organized one for them before. D seriously did an AMAZING job!! Several leaders made the comment that D is the perfect man for this calling in our ward. And I agree 100%! The boys were so happy and quite excited to be recognized for their scouting accomplishments in front of their parents and other leaders. We had a great turn out considering the number of young men in our ward. I'm so glad it was successful! D put SO much time and effort into preparing and organizing the court of honor and I think the boys and other leaders now realize how important it is to hold one.

D teaching a popular scout song, Wadleley-Achee

He made a couple boys come up front and do it with him

The group.
This includes the old YM Pres who just moved out of the ward, and the 11 year old scouts.

Good job, sweetheart! Keep up the good work!

"I can do hard things."

2011-03-21T11:49:00.000-06:00

It's one of my favorite motto's. I heard that quote during General Conference for our Church back in October 2008, and several things reminded me of it this morning. A sister in our ward is going through an extremely difficult trial right now and emailed me asking where I got the quote because I once shared it in Sunday school during one of our lessons. She remembered it and shared it with a couple of her friends during difficult trials of their own, who in turn have reminded her of it during her recent loss. Sister Elaine S. Dalton of the Young Women General Presidency shared it in her talk found here.

The other thing that reminded me of it was also in an email I got from my mom. This inspirational boy is in the family of one of my favorite seminary teachers back in High School. I remembered Brother Adams telling our class about his son Gabe, but it was neat to be reminded of him. What an amazing little boy! (I was trying to just embed the video, but it's not working for some reason. Click here to see the video.)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T21:28:00.000-06:00

We hope you wore green!