Parenthood

I am thoroughly enjoying parenthood these days. I go to sleep at night anxious to wake up and feed Lucy and see her smiling face. And she does wake up smiling. She is such a great baby and is so patient with us and all of the moving about that we do. She has adjusted well to childcare and even enjoys it. I love that she gets so much peer interaction already at such a young age. I visit her often during the day, and she really loves to watch the other kids play and move around her. It's a class room full of little boys and they love her too. Sometimes too much but she is well watched over and even spoiled being the only girl. I do love to come pick her up at the end of the day. It gives me something to look forward to everyday.

I have been reading to Lucy since she was a day old. You might have thought me crazy in the beginning, because she mostly would just fall asleep to the sound of my voice, but it has really paid off. She will sit and look at picture books as I read them to her for over a half hour. And it will always quiet her at church if we pull out a book and open the pages in front of her. Lately we've been visiting the library and checking out Spanish children books. I love to read them to her and it has helped improve my Spanish as well. We already have our favorites, that I would like to own some day.

James finished a rough spring semester only to start an equally as challenging summer semester. Needless to say it will have been a busy but productive summer for him. I have been impressed with how dedicated he has been and how well he has done. He finished Anatomy last semester with an A. Way to go James!

I am still enjoying my job at Kids on the Move. I teach two playgroups for several of our kids in the program. This has been probably my favorite part of anything I do. Sometimes the kids we have in there are very difficult with several challenges that they are working on themselves. It is so much fun to see the improvement they make each week. They are such great kids and they have each taught me soooo much. The parents too, are the real heroes. They are constantly balancing several different activities in their lives including these kids with special needs. I am so thankful for all they have taught me about parenthood and how to love a child no matter the form they come to them on this earth.

That's my update. We will be moving into my Uncle's home at the end of this summer. We look forward to the upgrade. It will be more work, but it will definitely be nice to have some space for Lucy to grow into. It's like the movie Big Fish, a fish will only grow if it has the space to grow into. Lucy is stuck in a fish bowl and needs a tank or a river if she is expected to get much bigger. We have enjoyed our ward and our apartment but we look forward to the changes ahead.

....because one picture just can't capture all of the cuteness

Week 3 Cake Decorating (Gnoche)

We learned about gnoche this week. Although it is very delicious, I don't think it's my favorite look or style of all that we learned. But it was fun to make this really bright green frosting.
This is Anna's cake. It turned out really cool. We don't plan our color schemes ahead of time but they always seem to look great together, so we use each others frosting every week.
I put some of Traci's fresh strawberry freezer jam in the middle this week instead of the frosting. It was really good.

"Let's hear it for the boy..."

So James turned 23 on June 6th and I kind of feel guilty that I never wrote anything about him. This post came as an inspiration to me this morning as I was drying my hair. I think mostly because I was getting excited for a date we have planned on Saturday to go see Singin in the Rain at the Scera Shell theater. This is meant to be a late celebration for James' birthday.

One of the things that really sealed the deal for me with James is his love for theater especially musicals. My mother instilled in my sister and I a love for the theater arts at a very young age. I always appreciated that. I get excited to go to plays even now like I did then. I am so happy that I get to share that love with James now that we are married. Some people spend their money on vacations others on toys or fancy clothes. We spend our money going to plays, concerts and musicals. James has kept every ticket to everything we have seen. It is a treasure to have them.

What really sealed the deal was when I found out he played the role of Chuck Cranston in his high school production of Footloose. He played several other roles, but always seemed to be cast as the bad guy. Which is so ironic, because he is the nicest guy I know. If I was given one wish it would be to go back in time and see James on the stage performing in these various plays. He told me that his favorite play he did was Big River. We have yet to see this one together, but I've listened to the music and we sing the song "Arkansas" all the time.

We celebrated James' Birthday with some friends, Bryce and Ashlee at their home in Spanish Fork. They have a really nice grill and backyard so we invited ourselves over for a BBQ. We were surprised when we entered their house and it was all decked out in balloons and streamers. Thanks Bryce and Ashlee for a good time.

There are so many reasons I love James, but the thing I love most right now is to watch him with Lucy. He is such a great father, and such a big support to me with all my goals and aspirations. I hope that he is enjoying the role of husband and father as much as all of the other roles he has played in the past. I look forward to many many more fun Birthdays to be celebrated in the future.

Did I mention I have a recipe blog???

I have pretty much announced it to the world, but I have a recipe blog. I really am having such a fun time with it though. Please check it out. lauriskitchencabinet.blogspot.com

Week 2 Cakes

So this week was much more successful than last week, Anna and I both agreed. We learned how to make roses and it was so fun. This is my finished product.
This is Anna's finished product. She dedicated hers to Lucy. (She was working on her writing skills) Turned out fantastic!

I love doing leaves. The teacher taught me and it was fool proof. So easy, anyone could do it perfect the first time.

Anna hard at work.

Both Anna and I got Rose happy. These are just the ones I made. Anna had another tray full of roses she made. It was really a lot of fun.

Some Cute Pictures (The more recent pictures are at the beginning)

We went to Harper's baby blessing today up at Elizabeth's family cabin. It was fun to finally see this cute little girl and my good friends, Elizabeth and Brady, the proud parents.
Enjoying the mountain air. Seriously it is finally nice enough to be outside all the time and Lucy is loving it. So am I.

I thought this was kind of a funny face.


Lucy's excited face!

Adorable. She is so much fun right now.

The proud papa.

Lucy loves to talk to her dad.

The finished product after the first cake decorating class. PS. James' birthday isn't until tomorrow.

Anna and I are taking a cake decorating class at the provo bakery. It is four classes on Thursday nights. We had our first class this last Thursday. So far it has been a lot of fun.

I love watching these two interact. And taking pictures of them.

Memorial day we visited the pioneer museum. It was a random trip, but it was a lot of fun.

It was cold but a lot of fun. Lucy was ticked.

I love my sleeping baby.

Also for those who haven't heard, I started a recipe blog. lauriskitchencabinet.blogspot.com. I have been wanting to do this for a long time and I am pretty excited about it. Check it out. Read the first posts for explanation.