April 2008

Ellery 6 months, and Ashlyn one year.  

It's a good day when cousins come over to play.

Nash Sundberg (5 mo.), Carter Sant (9 mo.), and Ellery (6 mo.).  Mom's friend's babies are Elle's friends too!

I love this boy of mine.

Sweet snuggles with my Ellery!

A view from where we sit and rock.

I Smile Every Time

I really appreciate this commercial. I always usually have one commercial that makes me laugh every time I see it. It's pure enjoyment when this comes on. What is not to love about it?

Too Cool

Love this. He was totally feeling cool because for some reason as soon as the glasses hit his face he pulled this "tough guy" expression, holding his lips like this the whole time they were on. Sometimes he will make this face when he's really feeling a song in the car and do a little head bob along with it.

Wicked-Fast Runnahs

Here they are! Our marathon runners! Brian and his dad, McKay, ran the 112th Boston Marathon on Monday. Elle and I went out with Brian's mom and sisters to support our boys. Here's a few things that we all learned from the trip...then pictures to follow!

Brian learned:

• He does not like being the "responsible one" in an airport
• He does not like when Sarah orders a mini pizza in the airport
• He does not like when Sarah does anything in the airport
• He feels much better when the plane takes off
• How to speak in a wicked cool Boston accent. "Pain is tempahrary. Glo-ry is forevah"
• Boston clam chowder really does taste better in Boston
• If you're riding the train at 1:00 a.m., drunk young men will stare and stare at your baby and then apologize for swearing in front of her.
• His dad's shin splints were acting up- he learned this the night before the race. Uh oh!
• The Boston Marathon was hard!
• The Boston Marathon was amazing!
• He is going to have to run the Boston Marathon again some day

Sarah learned:

• Not to bother Brian in the airport when he is being responsible
• Definitely don't order a pizza in the airport
• She gets stressed before vacations and can't get excited until all the packing is done
• She hates packing
• Boston is not a fan of strollers, especially on the train
• When you have an opportunity to buy a $5 Boston t-shirt on a street cart, just buy it. Don't wait until the end of the trip and get a $20 one in the airport!
• That she actually like watching the Boston Marathon...the whole thing...all four hours of it.
• She really appreciates when runners write their names somewhere on their bodies- She'd rather yell, "Go Paul!" than "Go runner."
• Lance Armstrong runs really fast. So fast that as she was waiting with her camera on the ready, he ran right by her and she didn't even know it until he was several yards away. No picture :(
• Ellery liked Boston- She could not have traveled with an easier baby. Elle was practically perfect in every way!
• Marathon medals are sexy
• She is so proud of her husband (and father-in-law!) for his accomplishment. Way to go Bri and McKay!
• Cleaning your house the day before you go on a trip is totally worth it
  

Grammy and Poppy learned:

• McKay turns into a wild man when he's given sugar
• When sleeping in a bed with adults McKay will pick one (Poppy) and be magnetically attached to that person all night
• McKay will survive even if he doesn't eat a thing for four days
• It's not a good idea to let McKay talk to mom on the phone right after sustaining an injury from a shirt removal gone bad
• McKay really can't play by himself...I appreciate the real sympathy now
• Even if McKay takes and hour long bath everyday he will still love it like it's his first one

What McKay learned:

• Tibbers (Grammy's cat) can't have too many cat treats
• It isn't so bad to be left with Grammy and Poppy. You get candy and presents and three on one attention
• The green Boston shirt mom and dad brought him transforms him into a baseball player
• Mom and dad will always come home

Now a photo...or ten!

Elle's first experience on a plane. She did this the whole first hour.

Boston Harbor.



There's Paul Revere!


We had a great spot right in front of our hotel. These girls cheered for a long time. Adele and I got tired after the first two hours and sat down on the curb until our runners came up.


Elle and I waiting. Her headband served as earmuffs. It was quite chilly in Boston.



Here they come!


Brian asking us if Lance had already been by...yeah, like two hours ago! Pretty impressive that he still has a sense of humor at mile 24!


And they're off again. Two more miles to go and looking good!



So proud of her daddy.

And here's the baseball player himself. Happy with his green shirt. Wants to wear it everyday.

THE END. Finally

Six Months Ago...

This little thing was placed in my arms.

Ellery is six months old. I think these last six months have been the fastest of my life. Is it really possible that she is half way to a year? I've been thinking a lot lately about how fast kids grow. Really, you have a baby for a year; then you've got yourself a toddler for another year or two. Then you've just got a full blown child after that. So this babyhood...these babies that seem to take over your life and fill it with bouncers and blowouts and mobiles and strollers and burp cloths and all the other things that come along with them- are only in your life for a year! How is something so life changing and so huge over so fast? I think maybe I'm getting too reflective for my own good, so lets just look at this cute girl now, shall we?

What a sweet baby we have. She is so good, so sweet, so cute, so fun. We love having her in our family and now that a whole six months have gone by, we just can't remember how life used to be without her. Ellery's placement into our little family could not have gone more smooth. She just fit right in. It has never been hard to get used to having her around. We know we are lucky to have her.

Jana and Mark's Wedding! Part 1 - Wedding Dinner

My sister is married!!! We had a great weekend full of wedding fun. These pictures are of the wedding dinner. I know that other people probably took way more interesting pictures of these events, but I was trying to enjoy the weekend and left the photography to the professional. I think Jana's going to start her own blog so she'll probably put the really good ones on there. So here is what I have.

Wedding Dinner Highlights:

• Yummy dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Jana so thoughtfully ordered me a vegetarian plate. The waitress brought out the biggest hunk of marinara-covered lasagna I had ever seen. They must think that vegetarians are more hungry than everyone else- this thing was massive. Everyone else was eyeing it like, "what does she have..."It was yummy though- eggplant lasagna, mmmm. I had enough leftover to send it around the table.
• My sisters and I wrote a poem for Mark and Jana. It was a tribute to them and told the story of...well...their story. The very best part about it was that all week we had told Jana that we were going to sing a song. The day of we decided to really trick her and my mom and go as far as we could with this song thing. By the way, we're all horrible singers and have never and will never sing publicly. But we totally had Jana and my mom going. They were so nervous that we were going to sing. We even went so far as to have my niece Kara play a prelude and we stood up there with some random piano book in front of the microphone. My mom said she was so nervous that she was going to laugh at us. Then we started our poem and they could relax. It was kinda funny though. We're such jokers.
• Mark's family planned an "open mike time" for all the dinner guests to pay tribute to Mark and Jana. Tender.
• Previously that week I had found the perfect dress for the wedding dinner, and also a coordinating tie for Brian. Oh we would have looked so sweet. Jana, in her pre-wedding stress, had nothing to wear and not a lot of time to look for something. I ever so sweetly gave her my dress and even Brian's tie to wear for Mark. It was actually really painful for me. She looked great in it and when I saw her try it on (just for fun at this point) I knew that she had to wear it. It just looked like a "bride at her wedding dinner" dress. I kind of hated that I gave it up, but wanted to anyway, and I didn't really feel better until I found a very cute skirt to wear instead with a black sweater thing. Relief! Both Jana and I were dressed.
• Jana and I had wished for good hair days for that night. With us, you never know how your hair is going to go on the days you wash it. Happy to report mine was really good. I didn't get a chance to ask Jana how she felt about hers, but it looked good from what I saw. I'm reporting on the very important stuff here, obviously.
• Night out without the kids. Thanks again Adele and McKay for all your help.

Wedding Part 2- Actual Wedding!

Wedding Highlights:

• Jana was absolutely glowing. She looked gorgeous and I really could see a glow on her in the temple. It was also so fun having our whole family in the sealing room.


• Nonnie (my grandma) was baptised four years ago and this was the first wedding she's been able to be at.


• Elder Kerr, best friend Kristen's dad, and also our old neighbor, was able to preform the sealing. It was really neat to have him do it. He gave the advice to do or say something to nourish your love at least once a day. Good reminder.


• I had never been to the Salt Lake Temple before (except to do baptisms when I was younger). Beautiful!


• McKay was completely occupied by a squirt bottle. He gave the flowers a good watering while waiting for the newlyweds to come out.


• Jana had about eight friends fly in from out of state to be at her wedding. She has great friends and it's really neat that they're still close. It was also fun for me to visit with the ones I know and love. Kim, Deborah and Chris, Breck, Monica- love them!
• Cousins! McKay loves his cousins. We took a picture of him with Lisa's kids and he blends right in. We were joking that they were the Von Trapp family because they all had coordinating blue and white outfits so we lined them up Von Trapp style and McKay looked like he was meant to be there.

Wedding Part 3...Reception

Reception Highlights:

• Kristen and Mark did all the flowers. They were gorgeous...so beautiful- I wish I had a picture. It was so fun seeing Kristen and Mark during all the wedding festivities. We decided Mark definitely has "the floral eye". Don't you think they should name their business that?
• Ellery was just a mess. A cute one; but still a mess. She had some weird reaction to the darling dress she wore. Rashes galore, I tell ya! Plus, by the time the reception rolled around, she was pretty much ready for bed, she had drool like you wouldn't believe, and a lovely, continuous stream of snot decorating her upper lip the whole night. Mess. Great pictures as you can imagine. I felt bad for her. It was a lifesaver when Grandma and Grandad came and took the kiddies home.
• Someone decided it would be great to throw confetti on Jana and Mark as they were leaving. Krista got a bagful right in her face, which was really funny, but sad in that she had wanted to wear her cute braided/curly hair to church the next day and there was just no way that was going to happen with the minute particles of confetti all over her scalp.
• I wasn't too hungry and waited until almost the end of the reception to eat. Bad idea. They were out of desserts. I was so very disappointed. These are all turning into negative things...
• Something good. McKay looked adorable in his suit. I think I took a thousand pictures of him. He refers to himself as a "church guy" when he's wearing it. "Mom, I'm a church guy?"It was so cute when he discovered the three giant jars of fortune cookies. He hit the cookie jackpot and you could see it on his face. Bad idea to give a two and a half year old a white chocolate covered fortune cookie while wearing a black suit. He loved it though.
• So fun to see Katie and Jason and their kids, as well as Kristen and Mark. So glad they came. So fun to chat.
• Most importantly, Jana was still gorgeously glowing. They are one happy couple. Love it. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that Jana is a Mrs. She's married...it might take a bit for that to sink in. But so glad that she found Mark.

Hanging Tough...like old times

I just heard the news today that NKOTB are reuniting. What?! Look at Joey! I think I'm still in love with him!

Oh how I loved this original boy band! I remember when they came here in concert Jana got to go and all I got was a lousy book of paper dolls as consolation. I was so depressed. I might not be over it. I was never a New Kid hater. A lot of people secretly loved them, but pretended not to because it wasn't cool. Well, not me...and not Jana either. We were true fans. We probably still liked them long after everyone really stopped liking them.

I had a full on, head to toe, NKOTB outfit. It was fabulous. Complete with stretchy pants, a big t-shirt with the group on it (w/ one of those plastic clips that held the shirt in a knot on the side) and a matching hat. I was cute, believe me. I remember listening to Please Don't Go Girl over and over and over...on a tape. Joey's voice could just melt me. I absolutely wanted to marry him.

My friends each had a New Kid boyfriend too, and what do you know, I still remember them!

Kristen= Donny and Jon- she went back and forth

Amanda= Danny- she fell in love with him after seeing him sport an American Flag leather jacket at the concert (Yes, my friends got to go...they told me every detail!)

Sarah= Jordan - I was never a fan of his high voice and his hair tail

We had books about them, made up dances to their songs, and Kristen had an excellent poster of Donny hanging in her room. I think just maybe I still have the Joey barbie doll. I begged and begged my mom to get it for me one Saturday between conference sessions. I remember walking into KB Toys like I was at Disneyland. I also remember saving everything that came with Joey and keeping him in good condition because I was sure he was going to be worth a lot of money one day. I'm sure I still have him somewhere. I wonder how much I could get...

Our Very Own Science Project

Ellery was asked to participate in a study at BYU. This cute little hat monitored her brain activity while she watched a minute long movie. I really don't know the details of it, but they said something about studying how infants process audio and visual information together. I have no idea. I just went and they put all this equipment on my child and I just trusted them because it was at BYU. I figured they wouldn't do anything to hurt her at a university.

A BYU student called me one day and explained the study and asked if we would do it. I felt guilty saying no, so we took the trek down to BYU and did our service for the week. That counts as service, right? We didn't get anything from it, except for this little picture and a homemade certificate of service. So I guess it was service if they said so on the certificate...

Hair Update -

Just thought you might like to see my cute new baby hairs coming in. My double hairdo. Is everyone jealous? Is it just me or does it look like I've lost an abnormal amount of hair this time?

more march 2008