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!