Dear David Andrew,

 My dear sweet baby, you are getting so big! You are 15 months old-wow! Here are some of your latest and greatest things:

-You say so much now (much has to be translated-but you are full of words). Some things you say are: "maaak" for milk, "Mom", "Dad", "Ducy" for Lucy, "Hiiii-dee" for Heidi, "Aaaallll done" for all done, "cracker" for all food, and so many more-your language cracks me up.

-You are such a boy! Lucy never loved things like dirt, wheels, cars, trucks, tractors like you love these things. You seem to be able to take anything apart that is handed to you (pens, handles on pots, toys, etc). You are always getting filthy and it doesn't bother you one bit. You pick tomatoes right out of the garden and sit down and eat them right where you are.

 -You like to cuddle. I love holding you right after you wake up and rocking you in the chair. You look up at me, grab my lips and hum a little tune. You hum this same tune as you are falling asleep in your bed.

-You love babies. At church on Sunday, you went around to every baby in Relief Society and said a little hello to them. When you came to another little boy, also named David, you stopped and the two of you just giggled with one another. It was so fun to watch. You also get very concerned if a baby starts to cry and you often cry with them.

-I love that you are my son. I love that I can see the world through your rugged yet tender eyes. You bring so much joy, laughter and tenderness to our home. I love you.

Love,
Mom

Is it dance class today?

 I love how much Lucy loves her dance class. The other night I went in to comfort David in the middle of the night, as I was leaving Lucy (they share a room) lifted her groggy, half-awake head and said, "Mom is tomorrow dance class?" I assured her that tomorrow was in fact dance class. She giggled and went right back to sleep with a great big grin on her face. The next morning she woke with great enthusiasm and asked, "Is it dance class today?" When I told her it was she cheered with her arms above her ahead, "Yay!!!"

Then as we were walking to church on Sunday, I looked down to hear her saying , "Step, together. Step, together . . . " This girl has got a love for moving her body.

Dear Utah,

Of all your seasons, I like fall the most. 

Love,

Me

 

 Sunday drive
September 2010

I was on TV

A while back I was on TV. It was for a call-in KBYU TV show called Ask Eleven where Heidi and I were the "experts" regarding inclusion. It was so much fun to be a part of (they did our hair and make-up-I felt so official). If you're interested here is the link.

How we talk to Aunt Kristi . . .

Technology is such a beautiful thing. My kids think this is the coolest thing ever-and I'm pretty sure Grandma is in love with it too.

Red Rock Relay

For Marc's family reunion this year we participated in The Red Rock Relay. This consists of a 186 mile relay run, 2 mini vans with 6 runners in each van (12 total), 36 different legs to run and a whole lot of memories made in between. Here we are at the start waiting for my Mother-in-law to finish leg 1 at Brian Head . . . (Heidi and Billy were specially selected to participate with us while everyone else was related in some way to the family)
Marc on his first leg-he was great! We'd stop and give the runner water and help to cheer them on . . .

My first leg-it was pretty much all on pavement with a steep uphill and then a lot of down hill. It ended with a little patch of trail running which made me feel very rugged . . .
The whole gang (minus Heidi who was running). My Mother-in-law did great-she even fell and hurt her hand on her first leg-she went the ER, she got a brace and she was back to finish the rest of the race!
You had about 5 hours of down time while the other van would race-here we are at SUU where we swam, showered and slept . . .
Running through the night. This was Marc at the top of a very steep hill. I think he wanted to use some choice words right about now . . .
A dance party erupted as my Mother-in-law finished her final leg!!! We were all on the home stretch.

Marc ran the best leg of the entire race through Snow Canyon . . .

The race ended in Zion and we all ran in as a team. It was so much fun to be a part of the big adventure . . .

Go team!!! Joe, Billy, Kay, Marc, Michael, Cory, David, Ryan, Becky, Karen, Me & Heidi . . .

You put a mark on your leg for each leg you complete-we all earned our stripes and we wore them with great pride!
So we survived an adventure of 186 miles together. It was magical, inspiring, difficult, humorous and fulfilling all at once. My highlights include: having a great adventure with my hubby, spending time with my big brother while we completed something together as peers, realizing my body can do hard things, seeing my kids at the end and knowing they had been cared for by many wonderful Aunts.

Who's in for next year?

Hiking The Subway

Here is the gang all ready to go hike The Subway in Zion National Park. Daryl flew out from Boston for it and Brian and Lisa came down from Idaho-such a great group of dear friends.
Brian, Abby, Lisa, Daryl, Jerick, Marc, Katie, Cindy, Heidi, Ginny & Jared
At the start-we got a view of a cool controlled fire on our way in through the forest part

Getting down into the slot canyon (it was steep) . . .

Our first repel-thank goodness for brave, strong men and rope!

heading through the hike-oh how I love this hike! The variety is so amazing.

Swimming in some FREEZING water

Going through the key hole-can you tell how tight some of the parts were. Right after this part, you swim under a rock to get through-it was incredible.

Getting ready to go in. Heidi said to smile, so I did, but I was scared . . .

We did it! My true love was always there to catch me!

Here comes my hero and favorite adventure buddy . . .

Gives you an idea just how tight some parts of the canyon were . . .

Nothing says true love like Chacos in a slot canyon . . .

The heart of The Subway-do you love it?

We just hiked through all of this-breathtaking!

The last descent-so scary!!! I just had to hold on, look at Jarick and not think about it . . .

The red waterfall . . . this site amazes me and I love that I got to see it with Marc this time!

Below are some great shots of the hike for your viewing enjoyment . . .

Subway Ahoy!

Lucy's first dance class 9/1/10

Lucy had her first dance class today and she LOVED it! We've been talking about it
for weeks now and she was so excited for the big day!!!

Daddy went to work late so he could be a part of the big day. Marc and I just sat there watching her with the biggest grins on our faces-it was a moment to have with our daughter.

Miss Amber put on music and told the girls to dance however they wanted to and Lucy
just twirled and ran all over the place.

Walking like a spider. I was so excited to see how quickly she caught on to all the things they were doing.

She loved the "spider" on Miss Amber's hand.

It was so much fun and Lucy just kept talking about it afterward. What fun things we get to do
as we are a part of our childrens' lives.