Danielle's Visit

My sister, Danielle, visited us a couple of weeks ago. It was SUCH a fun weekend! We enjoyed a couple of yummy family dinners, shopping, bowling, watching movies, and playing board games. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Danielle's visit.


Danielle with Daniel and Heather.


Daddy with Lily.


Heather playing Pictureka--her very favorite board game.


Aunt Danielle with her nephew, Daniel.


Mom and Daniel.


Sisters.


Brian and Dale at Brian's basketball game.


Lily taking a bath.


Brian--such a handsome guy.


Brian and Daniel building with Legos.


Mom and Lily.

Daniel's 4 Year Portraits

I had Daniel's 4 year portraits taken a couple of weeks ago and I think they turned out darling.



Big smile!



I have a picture of Brian when he was 4 years old with his suit jacket tossed over his shoulder like Daniel's is in this picture--so GQ, I love it!

January Pics

January has been a fun month for our family. Bethany's sister, Danielle, visited from the East coast for a few very fun days. Hopefully one of my next posts will include lots of fun pictures from her visit. In the meantime, here are some pics from around the house.

Lily right before church (thanks for the darling hair bow, Aunt Kristen!)



Brian building a card house out of his multiplication flash cards



Daniel and Lily playing with blocks



Lily with a block crown



Such a cutie



Heather feeding Lily a jar of bananas--Lily's favorite food so far.

New Family Pictures

Our new family pictures:

Lily at 7 Months

Lily is at such a fun age! She loves to be placed sitting up on a blanket surrounded with toys. She is getting a bit adventurous and amazes me with how far she will bend and reach to get toys that have rolled away from her. I think her stationary days of playing are quickly coming to an end, this girl will probably be crawling before I know it! Note to self: Baby-proof the house!

She has 6 teeth now (4 on her top gum and 2 on the bottom gum.) She had a really hard time eating solid foods for a while. After about 3 weeks of trying to get Lily to swallow a bite of rice cereal, I finally had the thought that maybe she just doesn't like rice cereal. I decided to try mashed green beans out on her, and she gobbled them down. She is loving all of the vegetables we are trying out on her now.

She is cooing up a storm. She babbles away and lately has started saying "Ma ma" repeatedly! I like to think she is calling me and not just making random sounds. :)

She is such a little doll!


Enjoying Cheerios. (If you click on this picture you can see the darling little dimples on her hands. I can't kiss those chubby little pads enough! She loves it when I kiss her hands, she is super ticklish and laughs and laughs when I kiss her hands or her tummy.)


Examining a string.


Such cute fuzzy hair. (I was bald until I was almost 2 years old, so I am thrilled that Lily has this fuzz going on.)


Love those rosy cheeks!

A Few of My Favorite Things

I was writing in my journal today. I'm not the best at this, but I do try to write an entry at least every month or two, to catalog a bit of what my family and I are doing. Today I decided to write a list of some of my favorite things and then decided that I would post that list here too. That's probably pretty narcissistic, but I would enjoy reading a list like this if any of my family or friends posted something similar about themselves, so I'm just going to do it.

Favorite color: All my growing up years, my favorite color was an aqua blue, but since I’ve begun having little girls I have to say that I really love pink and lavender.

Favorite season: Summer–I can’t get enough of warm weather!

Favorite holiday (and why): 4th of July, I love fireworks!

Favorite movies: You Can’t Take it With You, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, Emma

Favorite books: Book of Mormon, The Hiding Place, Anne of Green Gables series, Janette Oke’s books, Gilbert Morris’ books, Little House on the Prairie series, I loved Nancy Drew books while I was growing up and still read one every now and then, Little Women, Fire of the Covenant

Favorite animal: Elephant (I felt like my ears grew faster than the rest of my head when I was about 7 or 8 years old. About this time I learned that elephants have large ears. I could relate to that. Yeah, that’s why I like elephants. Also, I heard that elephants have good memories, and again I felt like that applied to me.)

My favorite meal is: I love food. I love to experiment with new recipes. In the warmer months of the year, I love to grill and make dishes with fresh basil. I like Italian food a lot. I really like dishes that use a lot of vegetables and fresh herbs. I love to smell good smells while I’m cooking. Anytime I cook with fresh basil I have to tear a leaf in half and smell it, I feel like life is especially good when I get to smell that fresh bright smell. I also have to stop and smell the open bottle of pure vanilla extract anytime I measure some into whatever it is I am baking. Fresh basil and vanilla–I don’t think it gets much better than this!

My favorite desserts are: Cookies and cream ice cream, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, creme brulee, fruit pies

My favorite fruits are: Fresh pineapple, blueberries, honey dew and cantaloupe, red grapes, bananas.

My favorite vegetables are: Fresh steamed green beans, asparagus, butternut squash, spinach, colorful salads

My favorite games are: Scrabble, Connect 4, Pictureka, the Great Dalmuti, Sequence, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Luigi's Mansion, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

My favorite hobbies are: sewing (quilts, aprons, bags, really anything that I can pleat, ruffle, or put cute things on), scrapbooking, playing the piano, baking.

I like to watch these sports: Figure skating, whatever my kids are participating in at the moment (soccer, swimming, basketball, etc.)

I like to participate in these sports or exercises: Walking, basketball, softball

Christmas 2009

Our family enjoyed a very merry Christmas. Brian and Heather are so thoughtful. They bought gifts for all of our family members this year. Dale and I kept telling them that they could just make us a card or a picture, but they insisted that they buy presents. It was fun to see what they thought each family member would enjoy.


Decorating a gingerbread house together.


All the kids together Christmas morning.


Brian with his new Bakugan toys.


Daniel with his new Superstructs. He looks very excited.


Daniel in an adorable felt hat from Aunt Kristen.


Brian seems very happy with his Snap Circuits. (He loves these--he has spent hours building water sensors, making fans, making different sound patterns, etc.)


Heather squealing with delight about her new doll, Kaitlin.


A very happy girl!


Holding a paper crane that Aunt Kristen fashioned out of a dollar bill.


Lily had quite the morning trying to unwrap her gifts. She loved playing with the wrapping paper and ribbons. Once a gift was finally unwrapped she glanced at it and then returned to crinkling more paper!