A Cowboy Party

Our little cowboy turned two! Here are a few (ok, several) pictures from his birthday party!!!

Gotta have sherrif badges for a cowboy party!

I had to include a photo of the suckers I made (hazelnut & mint-chocolate) because they were kind of an accomplishment for me. I made over 30 & had fun doing it, but it was more of a project than I had anticipated (that happens a lot with me, I guess).

I had to have a photo with Lincoln wearing his little red cowboy boots! (I sure wish that they would've stayed on though, but oh well - they ended up being a cute decoration...)

Cousin Ava and Grandpa Mont.

Mark (the "bartender") with his cowboy boot mug (enjoying vanilla creme soda of course)!

Grandpa Rob & Uncle Matt diggin' into the grub!

I think Linc enjoyed getting passed around and held by everyone. Here he is with his great-grandma Shirlene.

Time for cake, li'l cowboy!

Yeehaw! Happy Birthday, little buckaroo. We love you. (and I think he liked the chocolate cake, what do you think?)

Noah trying out some creme soda in a boot cup. Yum! He's not used to that fizzy stuff!

Checking out the packages...

Noah loving the horsie attached to the top of this gift...

I couldn't resist including one where you could see his cute cowboy cape! Thanks, Allison!!!

Time for present opening! We're glad that Noah's friend Michael was there to be so excited about helping open presents - it made things a lot more fun!

Noah loves his construction stuff - thanks Donnelly's!!

Gotta love those blue eyes...

Noah loves his Mr. Potato Head (thanks uncles Matt & Josh!). He didn't want to open any other presents after that - just wanted to play. And, now that he has a new "prop" he has renewed his fever for Toy Story.

Little Lincoln with both of his grandmas!

I couldn't help but include a picture of the boot pinata! Notice that, at the end of the party, it's not broken...Noah had absolutely no interest in breaking it. At his party last year we converted the pinata to a pull string (with a trap door) - easier for young kids & doesn't go against the "we don't hit" advice we normally give, since we can't explain the difference to such a little kid.

We tried that again this year, but the sole of the boot was solid - only the column of the boot hollow, so we couldn't convert it. ANYWAY! After several attempts to get Noah to hit the pinata with a bat, he put the bat on the ground and started walking his toys along it. A bit anti-climatic, but we just put the pinata away for later this summer when he's a little older. It'll be a fun activiy for later anyway...

The party's over and Noah has discovered the joy of chocolate. He's even added the word to his vocablulary (it sure didn't take long for him to learn it after introducing the word...I wonder why?) Here he is enjoying a cowboy hat in the form of mint-chocolate! Mmmm.

Happy Birthday, Noah!

So, let me start out this post by saying that I had been slowly working on and saving adjustments to this post over the last week. I had been learning how to put things in a more creative format, etc. Of course when I went to post it yesterday (on Noah's birthday) - I somehow lost it all. I don't have the patience to re-create it again the way it was before, but I hope you enjoy it anyhow. I really enjoyed thinking about the last couple of years as we celebrated our sweet little Noah's birthday. Here you go...

(One week old)

Then - This was our first photo as a family of three.
Now - We are a family of four.

Then - He weighed 7 & 1/2 pounds.
Now - He weighs 28 & 1/2 pounds.

(One month)

Then - He slept in a cradle next to our bed.

Now - He sleeps in his own room in a toddler bed.

Then - Had chubby cheeks.

Now - Has chubby cheeks.

(8 weeks)

Then - Had lots of black hair.

Now - Has light brown hair.

Then - Had lived in Nevada and Iowa.

Now - Has also lived in Utah; plus he's visited California, Massachusetts, Idaho, Arizona, New York, Oregon, and Colorado...and has put his toes in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

(4 months)

Then - We just fed him bottles.

Now - He feeds himself all sorts of food...but still loves his milk.

(5 months)

Then - Wore clothing several sizes large for his age.

Now - Wears clothing for his age or sometimes a little smaller.

Then - Had two teeth.

Now - Has all his teeth (just got his 2 year molars!).

(6 months)

Then - He was the sole focus of all our adoration and attention.

Now - He's still adored just as much, but shares some of the attention with his little brother now.

Then - Would smile, interact & play with anyone without reservations.

Now - Has a shy streak and sometimes takes a while to warm up to new people.

(9 months)

Then - Spikey hair

Now - Combed flat "big boy" hair

Then - Crawled.

Now - Runs.

(One year old)

Then - Still had blue eyes.

Now - Has hazel eyes - a greenish/brownish/amber color.

Then - Used sign language to communicate and could only say the word "Josh" (his uncle).

Now - Uses signs now more just for emphasis or clarification, and can verbalize new words each day.

(18 months old)

Then - Obsessed over all power tools, trucks, and helping dad with yardwork.

Now - Obsesses over all things cowboy (horses, hats, boots), Cars (on his bedding), Toy Story, Nemo (he pretends to be a turtle & calls the bath faucet cover a shark), and animals (particularly elephants).

So, our little guy is two years old now. We love you so much, Noah. You were the perfect answer to all of our dreams and prayers of becoming parents. We are so grateful to have you in our family, and we just adore your sweet, creative, spunky little personality. We're looking forward to this next year and to watching all the new ways that you'll learn and grow!

Spit!

So, I have been trying really hard lately to slow down and enjoy some of the routine parts of the day that I normally rush through. Bedtime routine is one of those. It won't be forever that my little boy will want to sit on my lap to read books and sing songs. And I'm guessing it won't always thrill him to have mom brush teeth with him either. So, the other night we took an extra long time enjoying brushing our teeth!

I loved looking at Noah's little bare feet up on the stepping stool. I loved how much fun he had with a simple everyday event. And I loved how important it was to him that he do his task well. I loved how large he makes our small little sink look. And I loved looking at those pudgy fingers wrapped around his beloved Diego toothbrush.

When we started practicing the spitting part of brushing teeth I about fell over laughing at how funny Noah was. I love how seriously he took it, but I'm so glad he didn't hit his face on the sink! Take a look...

Valentine's Day Sweetness.

Yes, I did LOVE that Mark surprised me and ordered my favorite chocolates for me - from a shop in Iowa. However, even sweeter than that for me was being able to spend some time with all three of my boys! And some other family too!
Yes, Mark was able to make a daytime cameo on Valentine's Day between shifts & we were also able to enjoy the benefit of living close to family during residency...grandparents from both sides of the family were able to drop by. Sweet! It was so nice to see everyone! Here is Noah playing with great-grandma Janet. He loves playing with her cane!

Our sweet little Lincoln's first Valentine's Day!

I think that Noah was pleased to get something sweet - what do you think?

So, what started out as a sweet little surprise for part of Mark's Valentine's Day turned into much more of a project than I had anticipated. I obviously need some serious tips from some more exprienced moms on how to do something like this while juggling more than one kid!

• I made the dough in the morning & put it in the fridge to firm up...then had to quickly clean up things & hide all the decorating stuff once I found out that Mark was going to be able to come home for a while between shifts (to keep it a surprise).
• After he left I started rolling out dough, and wrapping each heart gumdrop, and began the experiment of exactly where to place the skewer (if it was not placed well then the gumdrop would crack in half during baking).
• Of course, going back and forth between a baby that needs to be held & nursed - and a toddler that demands various types of attention...and then only five or so skewered cookies fitting on the baking sheet at a time - this "sweet" little project turned into a several hour merathon (for me - the unexperienced baker, and someone still adjusting to juggling two kids anyway).

So! Finally, just after 10:00 at night, all the cookies were baked and cooled & I was able to quickly drizzle some of them with chocolate before Mark got home...

...and arrange them in a vase. One cookie for each year that I've known him. I love you, Mark!

Oh, and here are the boys in their new Valentine's Day hoodies...
Pretty sweet, huh?

I just blinked!

Happy three months, little guy! Well, not so-o little. He weighed in today at 17 pounds, 6 ounces.

I know that everyone always says this...but it's because it's true! I can't believe how fast my boys are growing up already. It's like I blinked and Lincoln is already three months old. He is such a sweet, happy baby (most of the time!) and is so social. He loves to laugh and coo, likes bath-time, actually enjoys diaper changes, and recently began sucking his thumb on occasion. At first I was thrilled - thinking that he could soothe himself & we'd have less "pacifier duty"...particularly at night (that hasn't happened yet), but then I remembered how much money my parents spent on orthodontics after I sucked my thumb as a kid.

Lincoln took his first walk outside in the stroller on Friday...here is a picture of him in the stroller all bundled up. The sun was really bright though, so it took him a bit to adjust to that. He really seemed to enjoy being outside - new things to see and listen too. So - he, Noah and I have taken a walk every day since then (heaven knows I need the excercise anyway!).

This is just a cute little shot of Lincoln from Sunday. We love his chubby cheeks and mellow personality. We are so happy to have him in our family!!!

Pictures From This Morning...

Feel free to click on the collage to see the pictures closer up. Also, I'm just starting to learn how to use this photo-editing software, so anyone that wants to share tips, please feel free to email me - I'd love some guidance!

It's Personal.

Over the last week since President Hinckley's passing I've thought a lot about him, and what he meant to me. I started making a list of ways he impacted my life, things I remember about him, and so forth...

• He became the prophet when I was 17 years old, and he was a great influence on me as a youth and young adult - as I struggled to find out who I am and what I believe personally.
• Among other things, his words encouraged me to make the decision to serve a full time mission...and he is the one that signed my mission call. And, of course, he was the living prophet that I was able to testify of to the people that I met in Germany as I 'spread the good news' there.
• I was honored to sing in a missionary choir that accompanied a talk by President Hinckley. I felt so strongly of his sincerity when he expressed his love for the missionaries, and for all members of the church.
• He gave his talk to the young adults on the "6 Be's" while I was engaged to Mark and it rang refreshingly direct to me.
• He was the prophet that introduced 'The Family - A Proclomation to the World' which hangs in our home.
• He put an emphasis on education (with his own words, and by introducing the perpetual education fund) during a time that I needed encouragement to keep plugging away at my college degree.
• I listened to his book "Standing For Something" on CD in my car as a college student, and it helped give me a little pick-me-upper during that busy time in my life.
• Often times his words were of comfort to me during the years that I yearned & struggled to become a mother.
• He showed me not to be ashamed of sharing the message of the gospel. He never shyed away from the media or avoided difficult questions. He was simply honest, direct, and kind.
• He reminded me of the importance of having a sense of humor.

As I look over this list, I think to myself that millions of other people around the world have the same memories and feelings about President Hinckley as I do - so I hesitate to state them myself for fear of being redundant. I don't flatter myself to think that the feelings I have for President Hinckley are unique, but that doesn't make them any less real for me. To me, these memories and feelings are personal. They are mine. And they are from tender, growing times in my life - which embeds those feelings only more deeply into my heart.

So, I suppose that I'm reflecting and recording these thoughts and feelings more for myself than anything else. I'll miss him. There are much more articulate tributes to the prophet out there, and I've read and seen several of them over the last week. Here is a link to one of the video tributes that was passed on to me. I really liked the choice of song...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7433508959787481703&pr=goog-sl

Thank you for letting me share some of my personal feeling about "my" prophet. And - I do want to mention how excited that I am to better get to know, and learn more from, the new leader of our church, President Monson - as well as his counselors Elder Eyring and Elder Uchtdorf.

"Let your children be exposed to great minds, great ideas, everlasting truth, and those things which will build and motivate for good." ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

For People Who Love Food...

Ok, so I may not be the best cook in the world (far from it, actually). However! I do think I know good food when I eat it, and my sister-in-law makes some dang good food! I know, that wasn't the most articulate of endorsements, but accurate anyhow.

I don't mention this to make you jealous, but because she and her mom are in the process of publishing a recipe book. It is all about food that is healthy AND tasty. As they await the release of the book they have started a blog on which they're sharing some recipies. So, I thought I'd pass on the URL. Take a gander & I highly suggest taking a look at the frozen raspberry cream pie! Happy eating!

www.simplydeliteful.blogspot.com

Sweetness.

So, we made these sweet little creations today. However, they're nowhere near as sweet as their cute little baker.
Serious business.

Creative mixing.

Funny baker. And, if you really want to know...he was saying "to infinity and beyond..." Really. He was.

Time for the taste test.

They passed.

I love those pudgy little hands.

I let the baker go to town on a few warm cookies. And, to save on laundry, I just took his shirt off. Later I honestly scrubbed melted chocolate out of his belly button. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that...

Winter.

There are a lot of things I don't like about winter. Shoveling. Not being able to run around outside with bare feet. Having to remember pre-heat the car for the kiddies. Dry skin. The heating bill. Fresh fruit being so expensive. Add this winter...wondering if our car will start or not. However - it's times like this weekend that I forget about all of that & just love winter time. We went to a family party with sledding, cocoa, and just hanging out in the warm lodge and visiting. It was so much fun to watch all the kids - and to play like one too!

Noah really did have a great time...he just kept asking where the "horsies" were. He knew we were in that neck of the woods I guess. Cool icicles at least anyway, huh?

Simply Sweet.

I snapped these over the weekend as we were getting ready to run out the door to take care of some errands...

I'm glad I did.