March 2013

And here goes March in  a nutshell...

top left: Lydia and Caleb playing in the back yard. It's so nice now that she's getting old enough to actually play together with friends and they can entertain each other!

top right: Lydia loves playing with her friend Jonah. For a while, we'd watch him once a week and she would ask all the time when "no nah" was coming. So cute!

bottom: We discovered the fun cars at the grocery store! Never mind the crazy hair and outfit... she likes to pick her clothes out herself and doesn't like to leave her hair alone. :)

Easter came early this year, so we celebrated it in March. Lydia is ready to go to Neal's family easter egg hunt!

Brent and Annie currently have a HUGE yard where they live, and were nice enough to let us have the easter egg hunt there. Neal's parents hid the eggs while the rest of us hung out inside and ate pizza. Lydia loved taking her basket around and filling it with the bightly colored plastic eggs... until she discovered that there was candy inside. Then, she just wanted to open all of the eggs instead of finding more. The rest of us took off running to find the most eggs that we could. Some were filled with candy, but the ones we all wanted had numbers written on them. With each number on the eggs, we got to  choose a prize from the prize table, so they were in high demand. There were so many places for the eggs to be hidden, that it took us quite a while to find them. Even then, I think there are probably still a couple out there. 

For whatever reason, there is also a fake deer in the yard. Lydia had fun playing with/on it and was so happy when Brent helped her "ride" it.

Best of all, there was also a small slide. Lydia LOVES slides and was thrilled to climb up and slide down over and over and over again.

Feb. 2013

 Slowly but surely, I'll get somewhat updated on my blog. :) Here are some fun pics from February.

Lydia loves being outside and going on walks. She would be more than happy to stay out all day!

She also loves to walk around in mommy or daddy's shoes!

Who knew that balls made fun  chairs!

She is always very busy and on the go. If things are quiet for too long, I know that she's into something she shouldn't be... like the bathroom!

And of course, Valentines day! I grew up with my mom making us a big heart sugar cookie every year, and it's a tradition that I have been keeping in our little family as well. How can you go wrong with a big, yummy cookie! One for each of us: Neal, Becca, Lydia, and baby Johnson (coming in Sept. 2013)

Christmas 2012

This year for Christmas, we headed up to Rexburg to be with my parents. My sister, Jen, and her family (Jeff and Sadie) were there as well, but none of my other siblings could make it (at least not while we were there). It was a small group, but we had fun and enjoyed our time together. We didn't take many pictures, but here are a few from Christmas morning.

Jen and Sadie with the Christmas tree.

Lydia loved the stockings full of yummy things to eat!

Eating our Christmas oranges.

Sharing crackers and cheese with Dad.

This year I also made some stockings for our little family (with my friend, Heather) It was a fun project and I liked how they turned out. While I was at it, I also made some for my sister in law (Annie) for her Christmas gift. I liked the colors I used on Annie's better, but I was happy with both.

Our stockings

The stockings I made for Brent and Annie

Stuck in the Shower

I keep meaning to sit down and write this story, but almost 8 months later, I'm finally getting around to it. I didn't think it was very funny at the time, but as I look back, it is pretty amusing and I know I don't want to forget it. This happened last December (I'll back date it, so the post stays in order). It was one of those busy days where lots was happening. My mother-in-law offered to watch Lydia while I ran to the gym, so I dropped her off and headed out to run. After my workout, I picked up Lydia and hurried home to shower before my visiting teachers came over (in about 15 min). Lydia was happy to play while I took a quick shower. However, as I was about to get out, she came and opened one of the bathroom drawers. Big problem! The shower in our bathroom is a small standup one in the corner behind the door. There isn't much room between it and the vanity and when the vanity drawers are open, the shower door can't open. The drawers are fairly heavy and I had no idea that Lydia could open them by herself. I was stuck and there wasn't a whole lot I could do! Meanwhile, I could hear the doorbell ringing(visiting teachers), but I couldn't go answer the door. I tried convincing Lydia to shut the drawer, but either it was too hard for her to do, or she just wasn't that interested in doing so. The shower door was too high to climb up and everything was too wet and slippery anyway. The only option I could think of was to try to shut the drawer myself. After trying and trying, I finally managed to get the shower door open a crack- enough for me to squeeze two fingers through. The most I could do was the slowly inch the door shut (like millimeters at a time). Because of the angle, I couldn't push the drawer straight, so I had to push one way, and then the other. By this point, I was beyond frustrated, not to mention freezing cold! Normally, Neal would have been getting home within a few minutes, but it happened to be on a day where he had a late shift and wouldn't be back for another hour and a half. Not knowing what else I could do, I went back to work inching to drawer shut. It took me a very tedious 45-50 minutes, but I finally got it shut! Freedom!! It never felt so good to get out of the shower!! Luckily Lydia had stayed close by, so I could hear and talk to her the whole time. She had entertained herself by pulling out everything in the bathroom and bedroom that she could get to. What a disaster! After getting dressed and combing my hair, Neal got home. Work had been slow so he'd left early. I didn't give him the best greeting and he could tell I was upset about something, so I explained what had happend. He thought it was hilarious! He did, however, help me find some dowels to put through the drawer handles for next time, so Lydia couldn't do it again. What a day!

October 2012

I'm sure you're all amazed that I'm actually updating something on the blog! It's only taken me 6 months to do so. :) Hopefully I'll get enough up to date that I can keep on top of things again. Here are some pictures of last October.

Natalie, our neighbor, invited Lydia and I to go to Hogle Zoo with her and her 3 little kids. It was a bit chilly and not all of the animals were outside, but we enjoyed being there and seeing many of the animals. Lydia especially loved watching the elephants and seeing the monkeys. We had fun exploring and also enjoyed lunch together. After lunch we packed up and came back home for naps.

Watching the elephants, a grizzly bear swimming, climbing in an eagles' nest with friends, and watching the monkeys!

October also brought lots of leaves, pumpkins, and of course... Halloween!

Lydia enjoying the beautiful fall flowers and showing off a few of our pumpkins we grew in the garden this year.

 Helping rake and play in the leaves.

Family fun! Carving our first Jack-O-Lantern together. Lydia thought it was fun to play in the seed and pulp.

Our little kitty cat. Lydia was old enough this year to really enjoy trick or treating at Neal's work. She was a little leary of going up and meeting so many new people at first, but once she discovered that they all had a bowl of candy, she ran up to everyone!

Family Pictures

Before Bradley (Neal's brother) headed out on his mission, we all got together for some current family pictures. Neal's cousin, Grant- and wife Kate, came and took some pictures for us. We drove up to the Bountiful Temple and took advantage of the beautiful grounds there. Here are a few. :)

Lydia 1 year stats and catch up

This post is way over due! Hopefully I can get it finished today or it will be another couple of weeks before I get around to it again. :) I can't believe how much Lydia has changed and grown in the past year. It's still so crazy that we have a 1 year old! Neal and I really love the stage she is currently in, she is so fun, so full of life and personality, and is learning things like crazy! She is a great walker and basically runs everywhere she goes. She loves daddy and runs into our room each morning, shouting, "da-da" da-da"! We try to go outside each day when he comes home from work, and she gets so excited when she sees him coming! 

 She is still a good eater, although she doesn't love her vegetables quite as much as she used to :(.  Her vocabulary is coming along as well. She makes noises for sheep (baa), dogs (a woof), cats (mee, mee) elephant (dooo), monkey (ooo eeee). She also says, ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba (bottle and a defalt word for lots of other things),  duh (for uncle Dallin), o oh( uh oh), and pretty (although for some reason, she always whispers this one). She blows kisses and say muh while she is doing so. It is very cute! She also loves to give kisses on the cheek. She loves her bottle, her blanket, playing with her stuffed animals (especially her kitty), reading books, exploring, and going outside. She giggles and laughs all day and we couldn't have asked for a happier or better baby! We love our Lydia so much!!

She loves playing in the cupboards and exploring in the kitchen. She has found the cereal a couple of times and dumped it on the floor before I knew what she was doing. :) 

Lydia LOVES fresh fruit. She was so happy to discover the peach trees in the back yard and would have loved to stay there all day. She thought it was the greatest to go out in the backyard, pick a peach, and eat the whole thing! If Neal or I tried to take the peach from her to cut up or take the skin off, she would get really mad at us! That was her peach and nobody could take it from her.

Our happy baby playing outside!

We also took Lydia to the doctor for her 12 month checkup. Let's just say it was not the best one we have been to. :(  She is growing and healthy. Here are her stats.

Weight: 20 lbs 13.5 oz (45%)

Length: 30.3 in (80%)

Head: 18 in (55%)

Lydia doesn't like the doctor (I don't know why not, because she is very nice) and was very clingy every time she came into the room. She liked the nurse a lot... until it was time for shots and then she screamed and screamed. While she was still crying from her shots, she hit her head on the metal examining table and got a huge goose egg! Poor baby! I felt so bad for her. She has also never had any side affects from shots before (at least that I have noticed) and this time they made her sick for a few days. We were so glad to have our happy baby back when she was finally feeling better! Good thing all doctor visits are not like that!

Our little cougar fan. We dressed Lydia up for the big Utah vs BYU game. I'm really not into sports that much, but Neal enjoys it and is definitely a big BYU fan. We had fun watching the game at Brent and Annie's place with the family, even though they lost.