Celebration!

Celebration of what you might ask? Well, we've had a lot to celebrate recently. First was our anniversaries. Yes, anniversaries is correct. We were married March 3, 2008 and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple a year later on March 7, 2009. So we celebrate 2 very special anniversaries close together, and that is really fun. Our story is one that really is a fairytale romance with a happily ever after! But our story is one I will have to share in another blog on another day in the near future! This year we were both wanting to do something special and were really wanting to take a break and leave town. We booked the Honeymoon Suite at the Homestead in Midway, Utah. We left our sweet baby with my parents for her first sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We checked into our room, happy with the accommodations (however, next time, if we return there, we'd like to take a tour of the facility and the rooms and select our room). Our room was nice, the bed comfortable - comfortable enough to actually sleep well, with a nice bathroom, jetted tub, fireplace and "living room". We then looked for a fun place to eat. I had looked at Claim Jumper's menu and was really impressed. We stopped there only to find that it was under new management and the menu had changed. I was disappointed. Josh wanted sushi so we went to Park City and had some VERY yummy sushi at Oishi. Our sushi chef, Paul, was awesome! We'd go there again! It was so nice being able to be together, celebrating our love, our lives together, and what we've become with each other as well as where we are today with each other. It's so nice to be thrilled for the future and to be happy at the thought of growing old together! It's so wonderful and amazing to be more in love now than we were when we got married! We are so blessed!

We've also been celebrating life - the miracle of it - and the amazing trust that God has in us in giving us stewardship over His children. We're having another baby! Our "guess date" is Sept. 7, 2011. We're really excited! And now that I'm in the 2nd Trimester I am beginning to feel better and have a bit more energy - at least in the morning and afternoon. I still crash pretty early at night!

We also celebrate our two daughters that we love and adore! Hali continues to learn and grow. She's such a good helper and deeply loves her little sister! She was my favorite one that we told we are expecting. Her excitement was so deep and so sincere, it brought tears to my eyes. She's been wanting us to have another baby - she says that she wants us to have a lot more, but we'll see how my body holds out after a few more. She's also getting SO good at violin! I'm so proud of her! She doesn't always want to practice (not the fun part for sure!), but she's a natural at it. Her teacher is really impressed with how well she is doing, especially given that she doesn't get to practice as regularly as most kids. I think she has a gift for it and I hope that she'll continue with it for a long time! I know it will one day bring her great joy and satisfaction as well as teach her so much more than technique or music - discipline and self-confidence being some great benefits to musically trained children!

Natalia continues to bring us such happiness and joy. She is so full of cuteness and smiles! As Hali says, "I just LOVE her!" And we do! She has such a special spirit that radiates happiness! We've had a rough time of teething this last week - I believe her molars are coming in. Despite not feeling wonderful and having a funky appetite and some misbehaving here and there [ :0) ] she's been very happy, cheerful, and curious as ever! She's crawling all over the place, pulling herself up to furniture, and LOVES to walk holding your hands. She just giggles and smiles and is so happy! She's also beginning to sign quite a bit and understanding more of what we say to her and ask her. She signs 'hat', 'more', and 'dog' the best. She deeply loves "peek-a-boo" and will slap her hands on her forehead to hide her eyes to play. She's SO fun! She also knows where her eyes, mouth and nose are, but we have to be careful with the nose one - she likes her nose and after pointing to her nose, she tries to stick her finger up her nose! It's funny, but we're trying to keep that from becoming a habit! There's been a number of times that I have come in to check on Natalia after I've laid her down for a nap and this is how I find her! :0)


We also have a new member of our family! We adopted a black Great Dane puppy and named her Payzli. She's now 14 weeks old and is the sweetest thing! She's got such a wonderful temperament and loves people. She only barks or howls when she's hungry, needs to potty, or gets lonely. We've got her living in her own house in our back yard and she LOVES it! Loves her bed, loves us and is so happy and fun! It's crazy to think that she'll be full grown in a year! I suppose my kids will have a miniature horse to ride in the yard. We may have to get a saddle! LOL!

Lots of Love

Natalia loves baths! All she has to do is see the bathtub as we walk through the bathroom and she gets wildly excited; arms flailing, legs kicking, hyperventilating excited. She could probably take a bath after every meal and not get tired of it. Luckily for me she's not messy enough to require 3 baths a day, let alone 1 a day. But her love of baths sure makes it fun to give her a bath and play with all the bath toys!

Josh's brother, Barjona, his wife Alishia, and their darling baby Emma came to visit, have dinner (THAI - mmmm!) made by my amazing husband, and let the babies play. Emma got to try avocado for the first time. She was darling! One of the funniest events of the evening was Natalia's interest in Emma's pacifier. Natalia spit out her pacifier, tried to hand it to Emma, stole hers and popped it into her mouth! Those of us who saw it were beside ourselves with laughter! Emma wasn't quite sure what happened or how she should handle it. It was hilarious!



This year I wanted to do something a bit different for Valentine's Day. I saw this idea of decorated mailboxes and had to do it. I found these small metal mailboxes at Target for $1 each. I decorated them with designer paper. Then we had a FHE about love and how we show love. I challenged Josh and Hali to do something to show love everyday from the beginning of February until Valentine's Day - unless we wanted to continue it longer. When something was placed in the mailbox the flag was put up to let that person know that there was something in their mailbox. It was really fun making cards, writing notes, and placing treats or other little gifts in the mailboxes. Hali especially loved this activity. It was really fun to do things for others as well as receive things from each other. We'll definitely do this again next year. I'll have to find some more mailboxes! :0)


I received a beautiful delivery of the most lovely roses for Valentine's day this year. My husband sure loves me! Thankfully I'd know that even without gorgeous flowers! We went out for Sushi at Tokyo in Lehi and even let Natalia have some crab, cucumber, rice and avocado in addition to the beans and peas I brought to feed her for dinner. And she loved it! It was a wonderful Valentine's Day and our 4th together! It's been 4 of the best Valentine's Days of my life and I'm looking forward to a lifetime more of celebrating the love we have for each other!

Sickness, Crawling, and Dating

This has been a fun and very eventful week! Tuesday I was still in so much pain with my sinus infection and because it was spreading into my jaw and teeth (and because my midwife checked in on me and urged me to get to the Dr. ASAP), I went to the Dr. and was put on an antibiotic. I am feeling almost back to normal and that is a huge comfort!

Natalia is now pretty consistently crawling on her knees! She's been scooting, rolling and army-crawling for a long while now, but is really beginning to enjoy her increased mobility by crawling on her knees. We're having to keep a constant eye on her to keep her out of trouble. She can have the coolest toys, but she always wants the things that make the coolest sounds, which are things that she just CAN'T have: plastic bags, poinsettia pot foil (and the leaves that my poinsettia drop on the floor), books, paper, etc.


We also had to upgrade her car seat. She outgrew her baby one a few months ago and the straps were getting tight so we upgraded to one of the safest on the market convertible car seats and she LOVES it! She's going to love it even more on her Birthday in 2 months when she can face forward and see what we see and have easier access to Mommy's attention - that is when Mommy is not driving! :0) But I think what she enjoyed most was playing in the box!



Josh and I have started an official date night, which we try to do on Friday nights. This Friday night we went to see a movie: The Tourist. I recommend it. It was very good! We also had a difficult time with our babysitter and are considering some other options for childcare in the future. My brother, Kendall, reminded me that doing a trade with other couples works well. Hopefully I can find some friends that are in a similar situation to us that would like to do a trade. It will also make it more affordable for us to be able to go out on dates. My wonderful mother and father volunteered to watch Natalia for us so we could take my newly returned missionary brother, Aaron, to meet Josh's adorable cousin, Amanda, and hang out Saturday night. She is leaving for the MTC this coming Wednesday (Feb. 9). We met up in Bountiful, had Subway sandwiches, bowled - where Josh won 2 and Aaron won 1 game (but I need to interject that the time that Josh didn't win I beat him!!! And that has never happened before!!!) We then went with Amanda to see her brother Aaron play Tevya in Fiddler on the Roof. He was absolutely amazing!! Then we stopped at a frozen custard place and had frozen custards and french fries with fry sauce (I bet you can guess who the fries were for, right?!?). It was such a fun night!!!

Newness

It's a new year - I realize that I'm writing that on the last day of January...but better late than never. I have so many good intentions that don't happen, but I am determined to do better and make them happen! We began just before the "New Year" organizing our lives, creating schedules and lists and I've been really good about sticking to it, except for the last two weeks. I've been so sick with a cold and sinus infection that I couldn't take antibiotics for and have been pretty incapacitated because of it. But I'm beginning to feel better and am ready to continue my journey of making my life more organized and accomplished! One of those things is to update my blog weekly! Even if there is just one line or just a picture, there will be something each week for the rest of the year! Now there's commitment!

A lot of change has already begun this year. Some I can share and some I can't till later, but change is such a good thing! Sometimes change is hard. We tend to fear the unknown. Change presents so many possible unknowns that it's easy to become fearful about change. But change helps us grow and become better if we will allow it. Josh has been doing a juice fast/cleanse since the beginning of January and will complete it on February 14. He's lost over 20 lbs and broke 200! It's amazing what can happen for us when we break our bodies down and learn to reprogram or recondition our brains! Fasting does that for so many people. They break their body down in going without food, become humble and teachable, and can learn, grow and gain so much insight! I'm so proud of him! It's not been easy, but it has been worth it!

Last week we welcomed home my brother, Aaron, from his 2 year mission to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a stellar missionary and I'm so proud of him. He loves the Brazilian people and it showed! It's wonderful to have him back. One of my favorite parts was being able to introduce him to Natalia. She's beginning to warm up to him and I love it!

Speaking of Natalia...she's getting SO big! WAY too fast for her mama! She's all over the place - rolling here and there and army crawling and scooting. She's going places! She claps and wrinkles her nose when she smiles or gets excited! It's SO cute! She's such a delight and brings so much joy to our family and in our home!

We had our SEP meeting with Hali's teacher last week. She's doing so well! She's so bright and loves math and reading and she's excelling at spelling. She's still working on behaving better. She's a social bug and a big talker. Hopefully she'll be able to master being social when it's appropriate and focus during class time. We're so proud of her though! She's doing awesome!

Here are a few of our latest pictures:

Our beautiful girls, Natalia and Hali