Time Flies

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago we were just barely getting hitched. That sounds like a long time, and at the same time hardly sounds like any time at all. Funny how that works.

Our wedding day was so beautiful. I remember melting the ribbon on my veil with the iron that morning, getting my hair done, forgetting my bouquet in Wendy's fridge when we went to the temple for pictures before getting married, sweating like a man during said pictures because it was like 92 degrees outside with 80% humidity at 10:30am, trying desperately to not cry during the ceremony but failing miserably, coming out of the temple to find that no one was really waiting for us, going to our wedding luncheon, driving up to Medina for the reception, showing off my new hubby to friends and family, heading to the hotel afterward. It was certainly a day to remember!

How little we knew each other on that day! (e.g. Spencer had no idea how easy it is for me to get emotional, and I had no idea his mission in Argentina left him with bowel problems.) But we knew we loved each other, which I guess is the most important thing.

The best part is that 4 years later, after all of our flaws have been exposed, we're still in love.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Stars, Stripes, & Sydney

My neighbor Mary Pat and I have been sharing a subscription to Family Fun magazine, and I thought the 4th of July t-shirts in them were so cute. I decided to make one for Sydney for her first Independence Day celebration. I found some cute fabric on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics and a little navy t-shirt at Target.

I traced my star templates onto the fabric squares, then pinned them to the inside of the shirt.

Next I stitched along the edges of the stars. This picture shows the shirt right side out.

When I was finished stitching, I gathered the t-shirt fabric and made a few cuts so the patterned fabric would show through. I think if I did it all over again I would have made all of the stars bigger, but I'm pretty happy with the end result!

In other news, a few weeks ago I found this ExerSaucer at a yard sell for $5. It was filthy, but after about 15 Clorox wipes and a run through the laundry, everything looked like new.

It's especially helpful when I'm getting dinner ready or loading/emptying the dishwasher. She is just so entertained, and I don't have to worry about her rolling away and finding a cord to chew on :)

We love this wide, toothless grin (or as Spencer calls it in his fancy dentist lingo, her "edentulous" smile). Such a happy girl!

Clarke and Char Round 2

When Clarke and Char passed through on their way home, we were excited that they decided to stay a few extra days. On Thursday morning we went to Kirtland for a quick Church tour. I think this was Char's first time seeing everything.

Clarke, Andrew, Charlotte, Lucy, Me, & Sydney in front of the Whitney Store.

My favorite room in here is the School of the Prophets. Whenever the Sister missionaries read the testimonies of men who witnessed Christ's appearance there, I am overwhelmed with the feeling that it is a sacred and special place.

After the tour we enjoyed having a picnic next to the Visitor's Center.

We had already made plans to go to the Kirtland Strawberry Festival with the Heaton's on Saturday afternoon, so after the rainclouds cleared away we all headed up to check it out.

Me, Stacey, and one of many signs falsely advertising the focus of this event.

I'm pretty sure everything I read about the festival online said there would tons of strawberries (including chocolate covered!) and strawberry shortcake. In reality it was like 1% berry and 99% carnival. Either way, the kids were in heaven with all the rides, and the adults had fun too.

Jack and Andrew on the Honey Pot ride.

Of course my favorite part of this ride was the sign outlining conditions of people that should avoid going on it. Click on the pic to check it out.

Talk about cautious! Now I'm no doctor, but I don't think the Honey Pot ride was so crazy that it would cause a serious spike in someone's blood pressure. I think it spun around at like 5 mph, I don't even think the bears moved up and down.

Lucky for us, Sydney is too small to care about going on rides. So instead of spending our money on that, we spent it on treats.

Lucy, Clarke, and Spencer enjoying some kettle corn.

Ahh, kettle corn. We can never resist (and Spencer can never resist buying the HUGEST bag available). We also had corn dogs for lunch- it was a very healthy day. I don't think I've had a corn dog since I was like 10 years old. No joke, it really hit the spot.

Me and Sydney.

Thanks Clarke and Char for visiting us! Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Busy Bees

Last week was one of the busiest I've had in a while! To start the week off, Clarke and Charlotte came to visit for a few days. They were passing through as part of a road trip to Boston, and we were excited to be right on their way. It's always fun to hang out with family.

A few hours after they left on Wednesday, Sydney and I headed down to Marietta for a mid-week family reunion (minus Spencer and Dan) at Wendy's house. It was my first time visiting them in their new place, and they hadn't seen Sydney since last Thanksgiving.

Their beautiful home.

I was a bit frazzled when we arrived because Sydney had been screaming for the last hour of our drive. Wendy and all the kids were waiting outside for us when we got there.

Mom, Dad, Shauna, and James came the following morning.

Allison and Elayna.

Allison was cracking me up because she asked Shauna lots of personal questions about her being pregnant (reminiscent of Dallin's fertilization question he asked me a few Christmases ago). Shauna eventually told her she didn't feel comfortable talking about it. Elayna loved brushing my hair. She has definitely made the jump from toddler to big kid since the last time I saw her.

Little Riley loved holding Sydney.

I told all the girls that my rules for holding Sydney were: 1.) they had to sit down when holding her, and 2.) I had to be nearby. Riley kept asking my why they had to sit down (after all, she has been holding her younger siblings for years). I just had to tell her it was because Sydney is my baby so I get to make the rules for holding her. I'm sure I threw the word "paranoia" in my explanation somewhere too.

James loved playing with his cousins, and he also loved playing that guitar!

Dallin and Dad spent lots of time in the basement playing the Wii. I can't believe Dallin is almost 9 years old.

Me, Sydney, & Shauna.

On Friday morning, Wendy, Shauna, and I went downtown to check out some cute shops. It was fun to hang out with my sisters, and I got lots of ideas for stuff I could totally make myself.

James was having a ball enjoying lots of free rides on this horse. Sydney and I headed home after we were done shopping.

On Saturday we went to the Lake Farm Park in Kirtland. Since Spencer is on active duty right now, our whole family totally got in free! It was "Working Dog Weekend," so there were tons of people there showing off their dogs. Spencer spent lots of time trying to convince me that we need one :) I hardly took any pictures, but here are the few we managed to get:

This picture doesn't do that bunny justice. It was the fattest, hugest rabbit I have ever seen!

Family pic.

We had lots of fun and look forward to going again! After such a busy week, I was certainly grateful for a day of rest on Sunday. I enjoyed a nice long nap after church :)

7 months

Where has the time gone? The newness of each stage makes me feel like Sydney is still brand new even though she's been with us for over half a year. We are having so much fun with her and love having her in our family.


Some milestones from month 7:

• Growling. Oh how we love the sound of it! Totally cracks us up.
• Getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth.

• Grabbing and yanking my hair. I'm not a huge fan of this one.
• Eating more pureed foods, or "people food" as we like to call it (eg. "Hey Spencer, will you give her some people food while I get _____ ready?"). So far she's tried peas, green beans, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, bananas (she's not so fond of Gerber's version of this, but likes them when we mash them up ourselves), and peaches.
• Saying "ma ma."
• Sitting up on her own, but just for a (very) little while at a time.
  

She's also getting more attached to me and tends to cry if she sees me leave the room. Spencer is getting really good at making her laugh, and I have my moments too. Other people generally comment on what a happy and content little baby she is.

A few weeks ago Sydney also got to meet my friend Antoinette, a fellow Highland High Alumni. We chatted at Panera for like 2 hours, and Sydney was an angel the whole time.