So Blessed

The other day I made a trip to down town SLC because I needed to bring my laptop into the apple store. When I got there I realized that I needed an appointment for the "genius bar" geeks to look at it, which meant that I would have to wait for an hour and a half. Luckily it was a beautiful day and Baby Gap had bathing suits on sale. I quickly got one for Ruby and let her play in the outdoor fountains while we waited. It was so fun to watch her laugh and dance around. The innocence and simplicity of childhood is magical-- even for Mommy. In between getting soaked she ran over to me and gave me a big juicy kiss and hug-- needless to say it made my day.
And while I sat there watching her play I got a little teary-eyed. Here was this completely unplanned precious memory that we were sharing in the middle of a work day. It got me thinking that if I had been working I would have missed out on this and so much more. Now I know that not every mom can or even wants to stay home with her children, but it is something I've always dreamed of. However, every once in awhile I get the bug to go back to teaching or further my education and enroll in a school master's degree program. While I watched my baby girl play I realized that I'm so grateful that I get to put my career and formal education on hold. These little ones grow up too quickly and life is so short. I feel blessed to share my work days with my babies. Wet hugs on a warm summer day don't hold a candle to anything else that I could be doing right now. Thanks Ruby, Wyatt, and Brandon for making my life so rich and rewarding.

Tulip Festival

Back in May I met my mother-in-law and sister-in-law at Thanksgiving Point to check out the tulips during their annual tulip festival. It was, as expected, totally beautiful. Ruby was such a ham. She really enjoyed posing for pictures and Wyatt slept through most of our adventure.













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4 Month Update

Wyatt continues to be our joyous little angel baby. He is so easy going and happy. He still loves to ride in the car seat and swing and can eat all day long (I have a feeling that he is going to like rice cereal). Recently he started sitting upright in his bumpo chair. Okay, he still needs a little support, but he is making good progress.







The day before he turned 4 months he rolled from his back to his tummy, which is comical because he HATES tummy time. Every time he gets close to rolling over Ruby lays down on the ground next to him and encourages him by saying, "You can do it Baby Brother. Almost there." It's super precious. Most nights he sleeps for an 8 hour stretch, but not always. So sometimes I'm a tired zombie mom and sometimes I'm a peppy energized mom. I wish I could figure out the secret to the nights that he sleeps for 8 hours at a time...

Here are his recent stats:

weight 16 lbs 9 oz (80%)
height 25 inches (65%)
head 17.5 inches (97%)

He's our big little love bug!

Starting with the Kitchen

Now that we've been in our home for 4 months we're finally unpacked and settled enough to start tackling some of our bigger home improvement projects. We started in the kitchen because the appliances were old eyesores and the dishwasher was functioning on its last legs. I often had to run it 3 to 4 times before it actually cleaned the dishes and don't get me started on the noise level-- every time I turned it on it sounded like a thunderstorm in my kitchen! After lots of research and waiting for the right sale we thought we had everything all figured out. Then when we were standing in the appliance store we realized that replacing a free standing range with a slide range was going to cause fit issues and look ridiculous until we could replace the countertops; so we ended up only ordering the dishwasher. Our plan is to save up more money so that we can afford to replace the countertops and range/microwave all at the same time (hopefully by the end of the year). In the meantime I'm throughly enjoying my sleek new dishwasher. It is soooooo quiet and it has a hidden control panel so Miss Ruby can't walk by and press all the buttons. It's the simple things in life that make a Mama happy, right?!

When Papa Comes to Visit

When Papa Gary comes to visit we always have a good time. He loves to spoil the grandkids and Ruby knows it! Before he even showed up she had a laundry list of activities she wanted to do with him-- play at Chuck E. Cheese, ride the ponies, go to the zoo, and eat macaroni and cheese. Papa did not disappoint. We did everything the princess wanted and more! Brandon and Dad even got to sneak in 2 mountain bike rides and we all had a fun "adults only" dinner at the Porcupine Grill in Salt Lake (a personal favorite thanks to a delicious little dessert called the chocolate porcupine). We really wished he lived closer so that we could spend more time with him. Hopefully now that we live only 2 states away we'll see him more than we did in Texas. We love you Papa Gary. Thanks for coming to visit.