February

Here's the update for the past month. Justin took Nolan skiing and Nolan is truly a daredevil. He goes straight down the hill, crouched over with his hands behind him as to be more aerodynamic. They accidentally went up a chair lift that only had intermediate runs. Justin hoped that Nolan could handle it. Well, he did just fine and then said, "Dad, I think I'm ready for a black diamond run." Good one.
It's a dry year and we've been praying for rain, but the warm days have been nice. We've been able to go on some bike rides and take some walks. It always seems like I get the kids new coats and some fun stuff for sledding at Christmas and then we don't get any more snow!
Justin and I finally got to go to the temple a couple weeks ago since Lucy can now go 4 hours between feedings. Grandma Sherri was in town and able to babysit. We loved the new movie. It was such a spiritual experience. Justin surprised me with a new band for my wedding ring since we recently celebrated our 10-yr. anniversary. It's so pretty!
Rob and Lacey moved into their new home just a few streets away from us. We're so glad to have them close by again. It's a beautiful home!
I got my last party over with for Nolan's class. Being a room mom isn't my idea of a good time, but I guess I'm glad I did it. Nolan has enjoyed being in on the party planning and seems to think the parties have been mostly fun (there was one boring dice game back at the Halloween party). I mostly just didn't like asking parents for money and supplies. The kids are so cute though; glad it all went well! We practiced the games for the party during FHE one night, to make sure they would work. The first graders handled them much better than our kids, who were feeling a little too competitive that night. Meltdown!

Lucy seems to be growing like a weed. She is always getting up on her hands and knees and just started to scoot a little bit. Her hair is coming in thicker and she now says, "Da da!" She is really getting an appetite for baby food and now eats 3 meals a day just like the rest of us. As for sleeping, we're still working on that. We did a little run of "crying it out" and she did well. I enjoyed a few nights of 6 or 7 hours in a row. But she still wants a night feeding and since she's so tiny I have a hard time withholding the nutrition. I think she'll be getting her bottom teeth any day. I can't believe she's nearly 8 months old. One day Ez put his sunglasses on her and she couldn't figure out how to pull them off!

 Loves her tub!

 I'm still pretty good at putting off chores so that I can snuggle this girl. Justin might think I'm a little too good at that! :-)

 Lucy got into Ezra's Valentine chocolates. She knows a good thing when she sees it!

 Ezra with his good friend Sophia at aerobics. They were playing house with their babies.

 I caught Ez eating a sucker like this:

 Lucy discovered her tongue!

 One day Ez got into my makeup. And this is AFTER I wiped him off. Check out those eyebrows! He wasn't too happy that I wanted to take his picture.

 Lucy helped Dad shred some papers. She would grab a paper and throw it on the floor in the shred pile. What fun!

 Daddy loves this girl so much. He even downloaded an app for her on his tablet. On Saturday mornings we bring Lucy in bed with us to snuggle. That's her chance to play the piano app. She loves it! She even got to play it later that day!

Ezra is in love

There are a lot of people that Ezra loves. He is very affectionate and isn't afraid to show it (completely opposite of Nolan). Lately, he can't stop talking about Grandma Sherri. Last time she visited, he was so excited for her to get here. When she came in, he said, "There you are, my love! Take off your coat, and now we hug!!!" Grandpa John came to visit but didn't bring Grandma Sherri. Ez was disappointed. He told Grandpa, "Next time you visit, always bring Grandma Sherri." He also told me, "You know my favorite thing about Grandma Sherri? Her head! And I like her hairstyle." At bedtime he often says, "Next time I go to St. George I'm going to snuggle with Grandma Sherri all night!" Yeah, if it weren't for his heavy breathing, kicking, and constant wiggling, I'm sure she'd love that!
Ezra gets especially affectionate when he has been naughty. Nothing like a little guilt to make him talk sweet! After he'd disobeyed me for one reason or another, he came up to me and said, "You charge me up with love, Mom. This is how...!" And he gave me a big hug. I love it when he says things like, "Thank you, my love!" or "I'm coming, my love!"
He has also been talking about how much he loves Brynley and Tabitha in his preschool class. He told me that he is planning to marry Brynley someday (but only if he can't marry Lucy, of course). A few days ago, I had to pick Ezra up early because he was feeling sick. It turns out that Brynley was quite upset and teary-eyed for the next 30 minutes. Miss Susan said that she was worried about Ezra. What a sweetie! So apparently the feeling is mutual.

Winter Time

Seems like I just haven't had the same motivation to blog as times in the past. But I don't want to give up since it's the best way for me to journal all that happens in our family. I've been keeping busy with watching Lucy grow. She is getting big way too fast. She is such a joyful baby, though. She experiences a little stranger anxiety sometimes. She cries when she sees Aunt Lacey because she knows that I must be leaving. But then she warms up. She'll be 8 months soon and that makes my heart ache. One of the most common sayings in our home is, "Lucy, stop growing!"
We took Nolan to a folk dance show at the Conference Center theater. It was fun to remember all the fun that Justin and I had dancing back in our glory days! Nolan liked the show, but decided that he'd most like to be a technician so that he can run the sound and lights.
I'm just realizing that I didn't ever finish telling about the holidays (so this post isn't really in proper order). After Christmas, we had planned to go to the cabin for New Year's and then on to St. George. But it turns out that Lucy came down with croup. We would bundle up and drive her around with the windows rolled down. She was all snuggled in her seat while the cold air helped the swelling in her airway. She would go right to sleep. And at night we'd open her window a crack. She slept so well! It must have been around 50 degrees in there when I went in to nurse her! She looked so cute all bundled up! Soon after getting sick, I had to stop swaddling her at night. She now rolls over too much.

Luckily she got over it quickly (with the help of some steroids from the doctor), but Justin and I came down with a cold/cough. So we headed to St. George when we were well, instead of going to the cabin. It was nice to have everyone feeling better and enjoy the warmer weather. We had a good time with Keeley's family and we visited the new children's museum. The boys loved visiting parks and going swimming.

Grandpa John had a great time with the squirt gun. He was like a kid again!

We finally exchanged gifts on New Year's Eve. Ezra had gotten into the dress-ups! My family was at the cabin but came home a day early to join us in St. George. We had our yummy New Year's food for lunch on New Year's Day.  

Lucy was so darling in her outfit that Grandma gave her for Christmas.

The boys were so excited to see leaves to play in, instead of snow.

Daddy snuggles!

In January, the big excitement was using the new Bosch that Justin got me for Christmas. We had a lot more baked goods than normal. We even pulled out our hand grinder to grind some wheat for fresh bread (the first I've ever made). It wasn't all that beautiful but it tasted so good. And I think the grinder will be strictly for emergencies. Nolan and I thought our arms would fall off we were so tired after grinding only two cups of flour! Also, Lucy began eating baby food better and it was fun to introduce her to puffs and even some soft bits of popcorn. She went crazy for popcorn!

 Puffs!!! She wasn't sure at first, but now they're her favorite snack.

Popcorn!

Last month Nolan tried out basketball for the first time. It was just a skills program; no games. He was not impressed, and neither was I. There were way too many kids and there was nothing particularly fun about it... just a lot of the same drills over and over. Half the time Nolan's coaches (high school team members) were unsure what to do! But he was generally a good sport. It was worth it when he got his own basketball!

Here are some other pictures from January:
I keep thinking these boys might lose a little interest in Lucy, but they can't stop loving on her. Nolan enjoys carrying Lucy around (he feels so old and responsible!) and Ezra wishes that he could.

Looking pretty for church.

 She discovered her tongue! For about a week she couldn't smile without it sneaking out.

This provided some fun for a while.

 Ezra doesn't love homework. He finally agreed to practice writing his letters and then fell asleep!

 We borrowed Grandma's awesome sled for a month. What fun!

 She couldn't be a more joyful baby!

 Ez likes to sneak into Lucy's crib when she wakes up.

 For family home evening one night, we visited Scales and Tails. It's basically a large storage unit with lots of animals. They typically just do events, but open up the place a couple times a week for people to come see. We had a blast! The kids couldn't stop stroking the huge snakes and they loved the big parrot. It was very exciting when they pulled a 4 ft. crocodile out of a big box and wrestled it into the water cage. Seriously... what if that thing had gotten free. Scary! In hindsight, I'm pretty sure they shouldn't have pulled that thing out in front of rows of children.

Lucy turned 7 months. She is a darling little Valentine's girl!

As for Justin, he was glad to have his first tithing settlement season done. He is loving his calling as a finance clerk. And I love my primary class. The kids that are getting baptized are at such a fun age! I can't believe that next year I might have Nolan in my class.