What We've Been Up To

Here's a picture update of the haps from the last few months...



In August we went on a little family trip down to Moab with two pregnant ladies: myself and my  sister-in-law Paula.  We hiked, and we were awesome.  The pictures of us, however, were not.  But Evie had a blast and climbed all the way up to this ridiculously high spot navigated by Kristen, John, and Grandpa.  I, the mother, was nervous the entire time she took this adventure.

 In October, my cousin Stacia's little girl had her first birthday party, which we were honored to attend.

Evie had fun learning to eat a push-pop.  That brought back memories :-)

Also in October, Paula had her baby girl, April.  Evie was very excited to meet a real, live baby.

With me being preggers this fall, we didn't make it out too much, but Evie did get to play outside a little bit.  She rode her tricycle around the back patio...

...and scavenged for bugs.

Evie also found some resilient weeds and helped me removed them.

She is such a good helper.

Yes, we did have a Thanksgiving, but who takes pictures of that?  Not me, obviously.  I was good and got lots of pictures of Christmas, though :-)

I love those Crayola markers that only color on these specific pages.  As a renter, I am much more comfortable letting 3 year old Evie use these kinds of markers.  Brandon helped her figure out how they worked.

After Christmas, we were still busy preparing for the arrival of baby Charlee Brynn, who made her appearance January 5th.

I'm not gonna lie; she looks way cuter after losing the cone-head and getting cleaned up :-)

Last weekend my awesome cousin, Larissa from Visual Legacies, came up to Utah for some photo sessions, and took this of my family with us and our girls.  We are so good lookin' ;-)

And that's pretty much it for the exciting-ish things we've done.  (Other activities not pictured are Brandon at work and me attempting to handle two kids instead of one.)

Updates

 For the last couple months or so, we've been working extra hard to hold Family Home Evening.  At first we tried singing primary songs so that Evie would become familiar with them, then we'd have a story/lesson for the older members of the family, then we'd top it off with dessert or an activity. Evie had a hard time with structured family time lasting that long (15 minutes).  So we decided to focus them more on her, showing her pictures of Jesus and Heavenly Father, the goal being to get her to identify them on her own.  That particular FHE ended with Evie screaming bloody murder and being put to bed at 7:30, which benefited no one.

So the last two weeks have simply consisted of an activity (walk, getting ice cream) and singing primary songs.  Those worked out much better.  Anywho, the point of this story is that it's working!  In addition to this introduction to primary songs, I've been singing them to Evie when I put her to bed.  Last night, she tried singing "I Am a Child of God" with me.  So cute!  She's pretty good at singing "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam," "Popcorn Popping," and "Once There Was a Snowman," but it's nice to know she's learning the more spiritual ones.  Yay :-)  She can also identify who is in the pictures of Jesus in her room.

In other news, we are continuing the battle of solid foods vs juice fast. 

If Evie had her way, she would survive on juice, and never eat anything but hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and popcorn.  While most of her meals still end up being hot dogs or chicken nuggets, I am still fighting the battle to introduce new foods to the inside of her mouth.  The greatest success I've had so far is with-holding juice in order for her to take a bite, and the success hasn't been that great :-I 

 Why can't she just love food the way I do?

Lastly, I figured out a way to get pictures from my phone to the computer.  So here is the string of protruding belly shots I've taken of Baby #2.  She is definitely growing.  Mommy can feel it.

 15 Weeks

 16 Weeks

17 Weeks

 19 Weeks

 20 Weeks

 21 Weeks

25 Weeks

I feel I need to apologize for my hair in this last picture.  I'm working on growing my hair out, and doing that while I'm pregnant seems to be a good idea.  So, in an attempt to make it healthier, I've been trying not to destroy it so much, the way I usually do when I tease it and such.

Evie's United Way Photo Shoot

Evie did a photo shoot for United Way (obviously) and these are the results :-)  The only catch was I have to put in a plug for United Way, so go check out their blog: http://bit.ly/hJUEeA

 

For those of you who may not know, the white board that she is holding is a place holder for the PR and communications people.  So, when they go in and edit the pictures, it's easy for them to put in the United Way logo right where they have the white board.

Now that I have the pictures....

A picture update of our lives since we moved to our own little apartment last year--

So sweet asleep.

We made a breakfast run for donuts. Evie couldn't wait until we got home.

Yes, we made our daughter dress up as Batwoman for Halloween.

Evie loved that I babysat little Kymbree last semester. They were so cute together!

I just think she's so gosh-darn cute in her church clothes :-)

I bought some curlers for experimenting on my hair...Evie REALLY wanted to join the party.

Who doesn't like bathtub shots?
(Please no off-color remarks).

My first attempt at french braids in Evie's hair. I thought it was successful :-)

Evie excited Christmas morning...

...and the carnage begins.

The cutie grandkids at Christmas. This was the best picture I got of poor Alex's eye :-(

Evie's thoughtful Uncle Zack got her bear feet slippers which she refuses to wear

One of the traditions in our home is to take pictures of our German pancakes right when they come out of the oven. We like to see how high the sides rise... :-)

One of Brandon's employees makes cute little tutus, and she gave this one to Evie.

Evie attended her cousin, Hawnee's, 3rd birthday party in January

Hawnee with her daddy and my cousin, Chris.

This is our happy family :-)