January 2017

January 2017

On New Years Day, Alan David had his baby blessing.  I have a post with more details about his special day HERE, but it was the absolute perfect start to a fresh new year as we gratefully waved goodbye to 2016.

We read lots and lots throughout the cold winter months while I fed baby and girls snuggled close.

1) Adorable hooded towels Aunt Ava made for all 3 of the kiddos.  Alan's says "Earl Jr" because Grandpa Alan's nickname with his siblings is Earl.

2 and 3) Sledding on the mini hill in Aunt Marinda's backyard.  It was FREEZING and we only lasted about 10 minutes.

4) The kids mesmerized while watching sheep being herded through Deer Hollow.

Alan reached 4 months old.  Besides being a terrible sleeper at night, he was a near perfect baby.  Always calm and always happy.  The girls were (and still are) obsessed with him!

The first week of January my friend Tracey Torgerson (red head in top right picture) told Annie Quintanilla (brunette in same picture) and I about the Cedar City Children's Theater and their upcoming mini musical for kids age 5-12 and their need for a few more bumble bees in "The Jungle Book".  Since I grew up doing theater, I was immediately on board!  I love how performing teaches kids to follow directions, try their best and gain confidence.  I was especially excited because these mini musicals are only a 2 week long process.  Yes, the kids rehearse Monday-Friday for two weeks, but then they have 2 performances and you're done!  It's not this huge months long ordeal that ends up taking your kiddos away every single day.  Daphne loved doing the show with her best friend Sophie and the Torgerson boys, but she cried every single night after she got home from rehearsal because she was so tired and truly had never been away from home for so long in her life!  It was a bit of a rude awakening for our homebody Kindergartner, but I think it was a good experience for both of us.

Jungle Book Cast

I also adored watched Darcie watch the performances.  She was wide eyed every time.  Marinda's boys went on to do THREE sessions of the musical and we delighted in watching them in their many roles as well.

While Daphne's show was on, our wonderful sister-in-law Ellen (my brother Gabe's wife) came to visit with baby London while Gabe was in Portugal for a month for work.  I was surprised and touched that Ellen would elect to come visit Southern Utah to see Cassie and I and not go up to see her own family.  It meant a lot that she would make that effort.  I also felt bad because it was bitter cold while she was here, I still had a preemie baby that had to nurse every 2-3 hours and on top of it I got a stomach flu and was throwing my guts up one of the days she was here.  All in all I felt embarrassed that we didn't do anything exciting with her while she was here and hope we can convince them to come again when I'm not such a train wreck!  

Instead of trying to recap her visit in my own words, the following is all taking from Ellen's blog post about the trip and her visit to our home.

*****

The second part of our adventure to Utah included a few days at the Adams abode in Enoch. This was especially nice of Burke and Emily for two reasons: they have a newborn (as well as two rambunctious and darling little girls) and they were just getting over the stomach flu. 

Cassie drove London and I down on Friday night. When we arrived, Burke and Emily had prepared delicious cheese fondue for us to eat. After dinner, we put the kids to bed and caught a late movie with just the girls. We really wanted to see 'La La Land' but Cedar City didn't have it. Boo hoo!!! Instead we caught "A Monster Calls" because it was our family book club book for the month. It was good but very very heavy and sad. We enjoyed a collective sigh of relief when we walked out of the theater. Sad/heavy movies are definitely worth watching but they can take a toll!

Here are my cute sisters Emily and Cassie. I know the photo is grainy but it's the best we got!

The next day Burke took us all out to his families farm in Parowan. It was so freezing but we braved the temperatures for a chilly 4 wheeler tour of the giant property. We were ill prepared with gloves, hats, etc. so Darcie and Daphne were both crying by the end. Hands soooo cold! I put myself in their shoes and was reminded of many situations and moments with my adventurous dad growing up :)

 It was so fun for me to see the inner workings of a farm (their primary crop is afalfa) and all the sweat, blood, and dirt that goes into it!  Burke's brother was there working to repair (maintain?) the giant John Deere tractor. We were in awe of the fancy GPS system within the tractor and got some fun photos. 

London was strapped on in the ergo 360 while we rode around on the 4 wheeler

During downtime at home (the Adams home is so beautiful) London enjoyed the wonderful playroom and especially this play kitchen.  Emily and I had a few moments of wonderful conversation and I loved this opportunity to get to know each other better. We shared some hilarious stories from our past including some stories of crazy past relationships. We both agreed that is such a blessing to be where we both ended up, especially the good men we ended up with :) At one point, we belly laughed when Daphne interjected, "I am listening to e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g"!!! Wise little one. She is so inquisitive, smart, and articulate. I loved spending time with little Daphne, the bug lover!

Burke, Emily, and I stayed up way too late a couple of nights and had some really great conversations. They are both such phenomenal people and I am so thankful for their commitment to each other, their family, and the gospel. It is amazing to have such wonderful inlaws. 

Burke has a really nice way about him. He is easy to talk to and has a wonderful sense of humor.  He loves good food and is a great cook.  I laughed as they explained that cooking is a bit of a strain for their relationship. Emily talked about how she hurriedly prepares dinner and wants it done by the time he gets home from work so he can't "critique" her on her methods. 

Emily is always fun to be around. She is excited about life and her enthusiasm rubs off on those around her. She is sweet and kind but I like that she is opinionated and knows what she wants.  I was fascinated to hear that she does not allow "disney culture" in her house. No Mickey or Minnie Mouse shirts, no character fascination or strong attachment for her girls (ie: princess fascination, etc.) I know that part of this is due to the nature of their girl's personalities, but I appreciated Emily's focus on alternate positive ways of playing and learning. 

Darcie, Daphne, and I had a lot of fun moments together. They both played really well with London too.  We had some great moments playing with puzzles, felt boards, and my personal favorite - trampoline games! 

I was pretty impressed with Daphne's photography skills when I asked her to take this photo of me with baby Alan (isn't he adorable?!). I loved getting lots of quality newborn snuggles. Alan is a true angel and has such a sweet demeanor. What's better than seeing your baby, holding a baby!?

On Sunday morning we went to church. Halfway through sacrament, Emily excused herself to the bathroom. Poor thing had come down with the stomach flu (Daphne and Darcie had each had it a few days before).  I went home with her after sacrament and then attempted everything I could to make sure she was ok.  I know it's uncomfortable to have guests when you feel like poop, so I tried to be as helpful as possible.  I felt so bad for her!  I also did a sufficient amount of hand washing to try to ensure we wouldn't get the bug too! (We didn't end up getting it, hooray!)

Sunday afternoon, we took the littles out to the arctic (jk) to play with bikes. Isn't their house beautiful? At one point, Darcie was running out of steam and she tripped and caught her mouth on the pavement. She ended up with a huge ol' swollen lip but handled the situation like a champ. I am glad Burke was home to help with this minor accident. She just wanted some comfort from daddy!

I loved this moment between Darcie and London. Darcie was holding her arms out like "come, come, i'll catch you!"

One night we got the pleasure of seeing Daphne as a Bee in the Jungle Book. It was everything good all wrapped up into one. I loved her performance...and we got our first interaction with the Bush Boys (Elijah and Marinda's boys). Those are Burke's parents at the far right, such wonderful people (they had us over for a delicious lunch that day that we went out to see the Parowan farm).

I was just tickled by Balloo and Sheer Khan. The makeup, the costumes, the acting, the singing....it was FABULOUS! And Sheer Khan had this deep boy voice that made me giggle. 

One of the favorite activities of the girls was bathtime at night. All three of them would get together in the tub and squeal with excitement over the color changing bath drops. They made the water black one night from combining too many drops/colors. 

Another fun day was spent taking a little hike, eating delicious food at The Pizza Cart, and then getting some treats at Bulloch Drug. Emily and I were dying when we went in the cute gift shop at Bulloch drug (if you are local to the area, you need to check this out!) because there were so many adorable but extremely b r e a k a b l e things. Darcie and London were in raccoon-ing heaven and we hurried our way right out of the store after realizing our grave mistake. 

London was in heaven with her cousins. We spent one morning with fun youtube sing along/dancing videos and snacks.  Our stay with the Adams was so perfect. We loved every minute of it and are so thankful we could enjoy time with them. Thanks for having us, we love you guys!

***End of Ellen's Post***

1) Daphne making Alan smile
2) A beautiful snowy day
3) Cassie sent us a picture of Uncle Dan telling his kids "Bucklehead" bedtime stories after they heard one of Burke's famous Bucklehead adventures
4) Daphne dressed up as a "100-year-old" on the 100th day of Kindergarten
5) Daphne and Alan up late one night around 11 o'clock - neither of them could sleep

Due to Ellen's teasing about my Disney and technology aversion, I let the girls watch Cinderella one day (their first time) and they insisted on dressing up in the hand-me-down princess dresses from Auntie Cassie while they watched and danced.  Don't they look so pretty in that blue with their blondie heads?  Shortly after Ellen's visit, we also began the ordeal of choosing a headstone for Aiden's grave.  I am currently  writing an entire post on that painful process.

A fun day spent at the new All Abilities Dinosaur Park in Cedar City with our good friends the Gonzalezes.

A visit to Catherine and Mat and Alan's birthday twin cousin Isabelle.  Seeing those two together was always bitter sweet for me as it made me realize just how tiny Alan was and made me imagine what it would have been like if both of our sons had made it.  Oh what a joy it would have been to raise two at once!