Mother's Day

I woke up on the morning of Mother's Day to the smell of hot German pancakes and beautiful handpicked flowers from our garden. Brandon woke Ruby up early and put her to work helping him prepare for Mother's Day. It was such a lovely heart warming surprise. I am so grateful to have such a thoughtful husband and wonderful children.







I am also grateful for the blessing of a wonderful, zany, giving mother; a kind-hearted, loving grandma; and a fantastically talented and nurturing mother-in-law; so it was wonderful to get to spend part of Mother's Day with them this year. After church we all got together at my in-laws house for a delicious dinner prepared entirely by my father-in-law, husband, and all my husband's siblings. It was so fun to enjoy a meal together and then sit around and visit and be entertained by Little Miss Ruby and Sweet Mr. Wyatt.





Sometimes when life gets a little hairy I just remember how richly blessed I am. I am surrounded by great women, have two perfect babies, and an adoring husband. Thanks to all of you for making my Mother's Day (and every day) so special.

Baby Animal Birthday Party

Ruby loves the farm at Thanksgiving Point. On the day of my race they had a baby animal birthday party where you could get up close and personal with all the newly born baby animals. She really loved petting the animals, feeding the goats, playing the games, and riding the horses (of course). Too bad it was sooooooo cold, I think we would have enjoyed staying a little longer...

My First Race

On April 30-- just 11 weeks after Wyatt's birth-- I ran my first 5k! Well, jogged is probably a better term for my accomplishment, but the important thing is that the day Wyatt turned 6 weeks old I got off the couch and started training. It was a little difficult to schedule all my runs at first (because you can't put an infant in a jogging stroller I had to wait until Brandon got home or arrange for babysitters during the day). Eventually I took Wyatt and Ruby to the child care at the gym and trained on the treadmill-- not quite as peaceful as running outside, but it was effective. I finished the race in 39 minutes and 7 seconds. Obviously I wasn't incredibly fast, but I kept moving the entire time. I didn't stop or walk once, so I'm really proud of myself. At one point a lady ran along side of me and we got to talking. She was an experienced runner who had decided to run with her novice friend and set a 12 min pace for her. She approached me by saying, "Hello runner. How you doing?" I responded, "Good. Almost there, although I wouldn't consider myself a runner." She looked at me and said, "Well, you're running aren't you?" I thought to myself, "I guess I am." We had a good little chat that kept me moving and inspired and helped me finish the race on a high note. I realized that there are aspects of running that I really like (shocking, I know) and committed myself to train for a second 5k. I only wish that I had a friend to run the race with me since my favorite part of it was when I had a buddy huffing and puffing alongside me (any takers?). My next race is on the 4th of July in Salt Lake City. After that I think I'm going to step up the challenge and train for a 10k in September/October.


Yep, the morning of the race I woke up to snow. Thank heavens it had warmed up by the time the race actually started!


Trying to keep warm just before the race.


And I'm off... (kind of a Where's Waldo picture)


And I'm back-- just a few feet from the finish line


A well deserved snack with my little poodle pants.


Someone small really enjoyed the post race celebration.


Me and my biggest cheerleader.

Potty Training

Ruby has been showing signs/interest in potty training for months now, but I was either so uncomfortably pregnant or busy with a newborn that I wasn't quite ready for the challenge until last week.
The week prior I did a lot of research on different methods and really mentally prepared Ruby for the experience by talking it up. On Monday morning we went to Target and I let her pick out any big girl panties that she wanted. Randomly, she decided on Disney Princess panties. She's only seen maybe 20 minutes of Sleeping Beauty (and that was about 6 months ago), but somehow she knew who the princesses were and wanted them! We also picked her up a package of Littlest Pet Shop panties since she loves animals so much. Then she choose 2 packages of stickers and a froggy potty (I wanted one a potty on each level of our house so that I wouldn't have to shelp one around all day long. As it turned out, she liked the froggy potty best and we spent the first few days shelping it around anyway).



On the way home I told her that she could have a sticker every time she went potty and 2 every time she had a bowel movement. When all her stickers were gone she could get a new Barbie (Scout ate the legs and arms of her beloved Easter Bunny Barbie the week before). Apparently these incentives were highly motivating because before I was even done unloading the car she had sat on the froggy potty and done her business. Over the course of the next few days she asked for stickers or tried to climb on the counter to get them herself. I had to keep reminding her that they were special prizes for going potty. She worked really hard to earn them. She sat on the potty while watching tv, playing, and eating (gross, I know, but whatever it takes!). By Wednesday night she had proudly earned her Barbie!



From there on out we've just celebrated every time she goes potty. Sometimes we have to keep it exciting by doing something new like "making magic" (adding food coloring to the toliet water) and whenever we leave the house we take a travel potty along with us, but she seems to be highly self-motivated and is doing a great job. That's not to say that we don't have accidents, but all in all I think we'll call this experience a success.

3 Month Update

On Saturday our little man turned 3 months old! He is such a calm, easy going baby. We're so grateful that he's a part of our lives. Here's a little update on what he can do now:

sleep through the night (Woot!)- 9 to 5 nearly every day for the past week

smile (and his is the cutest)

coo and imitate sounds

blow bubbles

Some of his signature red hair has rubbed off, but his baby blue eyes just keep getting brighter! The last time we weighed him he was tipping the scales at a little over 14 pounds. He's a happy, healthy, bruiser of a baby.