Happy Birthday Dad!

My sister always does a lovely tribute to my dad come any birthdays or other anniversaries. I always appreciate her words and sensitivity. Her blog is private, but if you are invited to her blog, I urge you to read what she has written today. tracistaheli.blogspot.com. Her words provoked so many emotions for me.
I love my dad and always have been so grateful for the example that he gave me while living here on this earth. It is easy for me to get caught up in how life would be different if he were here, but I usually stop myself. He was here and while he was here he made a profound impact in many people's life. Then as all of us will do, he left this earth. He is still living and doing a great work and probably impacting even more people's lives. I'm grateful for that knowledge, and that is what I hang on to, when I miss him so. What a blessing it is to know God has a plan for us beyond this life. And it is a grand plan, one that can soothe heartaches and dry tears like no other can. He loves me so much. I know He does, because He sent His son to this earth to die for me. I can't imagine the magnitude of that sacrifice. I love him. And I love my family. I love my Dad and have no doubt that he loves me and is an angel in my life.
Today I celebrated by remembering quietly my dad, and physically by doing something that brought joy to our home and family. We decorated our tree. It was so fun to see the kids faces light up when the lights were turned on. James has just a few mannerisms that remind me of my dad. One is how he will sit back in the lazyboy, feet kicked up and admire the Christmas tree lights. He always talks about how much he loves the atmosphere that a lit tree creates.
We also went and saw the lights at the Ethel M's cactus gardens. It's worth seeing. If you live close, and want to come visit us in the next month and a half we will take you there. So Happy Birthday Dad! We love you! Miss you! And thankful for all we learned from you while you were here!

Molly 13 1/2 months

I hope I have as much to say about Molly as I did about Lucy. I hope it doesn't make me a bad mother if this is a shorter post. I do love you Molly.
Molly in one word is HILARIOUS!! She loves to make you laugh, and cry and sometimes want to scream. I have mentioned before about her determined spirit and it is still very present in her. She is also not very forgetful, because she remembers after a nights sleep what it is she was going for the day before that was driving her mom bonkers and will continue to strive for that same goal.

Folding her arms for prayer.

Molly loves to laugh. She walks around the house fake laughing all day. It is so funny. Especially if she thinks she has done some thing funny. She wants everyone to know it. She loves to follow Lucy around the house and is very disappointed when a door is shut on her or any barrier in her way to continue to do so. She's a bit melodramatic when she is gets a door in her face. You'd think it was much more serious than it is. We almost never feel sorry for her. Hopefully she will learn soon, to be a little more easy going like the rest of us.

Yup, this happened. 

Molly can sign, "all done" "more" and "food or eat." She can say "Mama" "Dada" and "all da"... for alldone. She can often say "Si" for Lucy as well. She is a really good imitator and will try and imitate anything. Especially physical things like playing with toys. She loves to put things in and out of other things and bang toys together. She is really good at stacking toys as well.
Molly continue to loves books more than anything else. We could spend all day reading the books that she brings to us. She loves to sit down herself and thumb through the pages.
Molly folds her arms whenever we ask her to before a prayer and it is probably my most favorite thing that she does. She looks so cute with her arms tucked that way.

Came home to this. Molly asleep on James.
Hasn't happened since she was a baby.
James was happy to be silent and still, while
he snuggled his sleeping girl. 

Molly is an excellent eater. She LOVES vegetables and fruits over anything else. Which is great although sometimes I struggle getting enough fat and calories in her because all she will eat on her plate is the good stuff. We have had some issues with possible allergies or sensitivities so currently she is on a dairy free diet. She reacted bad to Soy milk as well, so she drinks rice milk, and so far is doing well. I was worried most about constipation with the rice milk, but with all the veggies she eats, she does just fine. She has never liked to be spoon fed, so pretty much since the day she started eating solids she has been on finger foods. Which I love because it has given her the practice to eat harder things that Lucy still doesn't love. Molly only has 2 bottom teeth and a one upper tooth that is just popped through. Regardless, she can gum and "chew" just about anything. I'm constantly amazed.
Molly still loves to wrestle and will put up a good fight but boy does she also give the best hugs and open mouth kisses. I love her dearly. She is spunky and fun and we don't know what we'd do with out her.

Lucy 2 & 1/2 + a few months

A few updates on each of my girls is probably appropriate since they change so much everyday.
Lucy is learning a lot everyday. Her language is growing exponentially. She speaks in full, complete, and coherent sentences that would blow your mind... if she would ever speak around anyone but us. She is absolutely the quietest girl around anyone else but us. She's not really shy because she is approachable and will follow if you are leading her to a fun activity, but talk... she will not. She will laugh out loud, but talk.. she will not. So I know that many don't really believe us when we tell them how much she talks everyday. She talks and sings all day long. I love when she sings. She knows so many songs now, that they change everyday. She picks up on music so quickly and can even sing on key now. She will sing right along when we are singing Molly to sleep or just for fun. I think there is a quote from one of the apostles that says a singing child is a happy child. And that is the truth. Lucy is a very happy girl.
Lucy has learned a few naughty habits, like she likes to tell me "NO" and "Stop it" more and she has become a little bit more sneaky.
Lucy is still in diapers and that is how she likes it. We had an extra week off school this week, so James gave potty training a try with her. It was exhausting. Lucy has a pleasing nature, so she was willing to wear the underwear and go potty when the timer would go off, and she was successful doing so, but if we weren't watching for a few minutes she would run away into a corner or closet and wet herself. We gave her the option to go back to diapers or stay in underwear, and you've never seen a child so excited to put on a diaper in your life. We're not worried, nor do we regret the trial. We learned a lot about potty training and a lot about Lucy. I feel like she will be ready soon, like within a couple of months and when that day comes, it will be much easier.

Yup, this is at Chipotle at least a week
after Halloween.

A funny story. We like to shop the after Halloween sales for costumes for the next year. We did so, and Lucy was set on an Elmo pull over. I don't love character costumes but we gave in. She found it in a bag and wanted to try it on. We put it on and she immediately went to the bathroom mirror to admire herself. She loved it so much, she wouldn't take it off. We walked around the complex, we even went to lunch at Chipotle with her Elmo hoodie. It made a lot of people smile, including Lucy. She was completely unaware of all the attention she was receiving. I sort of loved it. I'm grateful for a child that is her own person.
Academically, Lucy knows all letters, letter sounds, all shapes and numbers. She is also very good at counting. She is fun loving and easy to be around. She loves her little preschool, and nursery friends. It is fun to ask her what she has learned in Nursery each week. Her response usually goes something like this. "I learned colors. I learned Itsy Bitsy Spider. I learned the Wheels on the bus. I learned toys. I learned about Jesus." She is so cute. Love her to pieces.

Halloween 2013

 We crashed the Provo Wells Halloween party on Saturday before we headed further north. While we were living in Provo, we grew accustomed (or rather they grew accustomed to us) to crashing their family parties. They are pretty nice about it and always share their food and fun with us. After a long drive the girls had so much fun running around in their beautiful backyard, ... just like we used to. We loved living there, but so glad they are back. 

The Wells Crew. 

 A few highlights from the St. George crew. Evan shaved his head for this costume and his friend Hayden was the cutest little grandma wife you ever did see. 

 The food as always was delicious... Your welcome. 

 This brought me back to the summer before my mission and made me extra happy. Deb was unwilling to make an appearance.... LAYNEE.... ?

 The Wells crew, with a few Beckstrands and Stewarts thrown in there. 

 Cutest Watermelon since last year's watermelon. 

 My girls with the Birthday girl. Molly learned to scrunch her nose the weekend before and continues to pull that face constantly. I LOVE IT!

 The cutest little Garden Gnome. We bought this last year at the after Halloween sale. Lucy loved it. 

 Molly with cousins, Maycee and Emily. 

We did very little formal trick or treating, mostly just visited a few friends and family members that we hadn't seen in a while, but Lucy LOVED LOVED LOVED handing out the candy. Probably more than getting it. We left her by the front door like this for about a half hour. It was so cute to watch her make sure each bag received a piece of candy. Love my girl. She's getting so big. 

Northern Utah Trip

James finished another semester so we had some time off. We decided to go check out his parents new place in Tooele. The drive as always... was long but we made it and it was fun to be with family and relax in the fall weather. Honestly, we didn't do a lot, but sometimes that's how we like our visits to be. We just spent time with family and the kids loved playing in Grandma's toy room.
We spent a day up with Traci's fam, and had a great time there as well. Their place is great and it was fun to go outside and play in the leaves. She showed us around the fancy Harmon's they got up there and the kids enjoyed the ride. Overall, we accomplished just what we wanted to.

 The girls went crazy over their cousin's cat. It was actually pretty funny to watch all the torment she endured and seemed not even to mind. 

Lucy loves to play Guess who zoo with Grandma. It is such a cute game, that I'm pretty sure is not made any longer. So glad Grandma has it. 

Trip to the Toy Store!!!

 We love trips to the toy store. This was a particularly fun trip because James was able to come with us in between classes. The kids love to wonder, play with the displays and push any buttons that are available to push. Most times we leave with nothing, but a fun time. I thought there would come a day when Lucy would throw fits if we left empty handed, but that day has not come yet. Sometimes I'm more sad about leaving with nothing than she is. 

Lucy's "Preschool" Group

 Lucy is a part of a fun little preschool group in the ward. These four little cuties meet once a week and have loads of fun learning about letters, colors, healthy foods, safety, among many other things. We hosted this week and it was extra fun to have James home, because he taught the whole thing. The kids are working on a color experiment in these photos. They are all so fun together, and love to stay after and play when they are done. I love Tuesdays!!!