Missing in Action

So I realize that I have truly been missing in action lately.  Mike asked me the other day if I was ever going to blog again so I know I am past due for a new post.  I guess since we were just out in Utah that all our family are aware of what we were up too, but it is always good to have updates and pictures so here we go.

My grandmother Myrtle Anderson passed away a few weeks ago and although we miss her and I kept catching myself thinking that I needed to make sure to go and visit her while I was in Utah, it truly was a blessing for her not to be in so much pain and stress anymore.  It was amazing how quickly everything transpired.  I was so grateful that I was able to come home and be with family during that time.  It all worked out that we were able to be there while Mike was away on business, that way we could be with family instead of home by ourselves.  We enjoyed seeing both sides of our family.  Vivian continues to get sick every time we come out, but is luckily she is feeling better.  I took her a good week and a half before she had her appetite back.  Poor girl.  She is also getting some molars, so that may have had something to do with her poor mood.  I'm sure traveling and being away from home tdidn't help either.  I could tell she, as well as the rest of us, we so glad to be back in our own bed. 

Since we've been home I have been busy with getting the house put back together and getting back into the swing of things, as well as preparing for Christmas.  We sure can't wait for the holidays!  Emma has decided that she wants EVERYTHING she sees in any catalog.  I remember that I was the same way.  Luckily she's not old enough to be too dissapointed when she doesn't get EVERYTHING that she wants.  We sure love these kids of ours.  Vivian is almost 18 months and the nursery leader let her come in to nursery for the first time this past Sunday.  She did really well.  Emma has been transistioning into Primary as well.  I have been subbing and it has been so bittersweet seeing her sit there with the rest of her Pre-Sunbeams.  I can't believe my baby is getting so big.  :(  

 

Restlessness to Reassurance

Do any of you have those moments where you just feel restless. Nothing is terribly wrong in your life, in fact it is overflowing with blessing, but you still feel "wanting". This past week I was truly feeling this way. Mike had gone on another business trip and I was missing family and just looking for some change in our lives. It's funny because I grew up my whole life in the same town, same house and rarely had any change, but once I left home it seemed like every year I was moving somewhere different, meeting new people, doing different things. I guess part of me came to think of that as "normal". I would in some ways prepare myself to not "put down roots". We are so blessed to be where we are and I just need to sit tight and enjoy the ride. Hopefully all this looking for change won't bring unwanted changes in our lives. Yikes! Anyway, my whole point of this was to talk about how much the Lord can help teach us if we are open and willing to listen. Mike and I had had a crazy week and hadn't seen each other a whole lot, I was feeling "restless" and so the thought of going to the Relief Society General Broadcast was at the time just another check on my list of things I needed to get done. I'm so grateful that I went though because it was exactly what I needed. The messages that were shared I felt like were just for me. At least I was able to take what I needed to hear from them. It's amazing how much insight we can get into our own lives when we are surrounded my the influence of the spirit. There were so many impressions that I received that honestly had nothing to do with the topic of the talk, but it's what I needed to learn. I can't wait for General Conference next weekend! I'm so grateful for the Atonement and how it can help us in every aspect of our lives. I'm thankful that I am living here in California and that we have the opportunity to know and serve so many wonderful people, and feel of their love for us. So many have taken us under their wing and helped us as we are far away from home. There is much to be grateful for including: kisses from my baby, thank you's from Emma, encouragement from my husband, the holidays approaching, opportunities to use my education, freedom, the spirit, scriptures, temples, restored truth, the knowledge that I am a daughter of God and that he has a plan for me and my family, and that he was able to help me turn my restlessness into reassurance. I hope you all enjoy this coming conference weekend!


For any of you who missed the General Relief Society Meeting here is a link:

 http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/general-relief-society-meeting/2012/09?lang=eng&vid=1868422120001

This and That

So this post will be a smorgasbord of things.  First, we love this cute video of Vivi, it just shows that she is finally learning some new words.  :) 

Last weekend we went camping with our ward.  It was beautiful being up in the mountains and seeing the Giant Sequoia's, but it was sure cold at night.  Luckily we were able to sleep in a cabin instead of our tent.  We have become such wimps here in California.  I think it only got down to 50 degrees, but we were freezing!  Granted it's a lot harder when you have kids that you are trying to keep asleep in the cold.  Vivian did pretty well, but Emma was up and down most of the night. Oh well, it was great to be able to be out and doing something different as a family.  Emma had a wonderful time playing with her new friend "Balyssa" aka Alyssa.  They were inseparatable the entire time.  Too cute. 


Here's some pictures of us on our drive. 

 

Oh, speaking of different things, I took the girls to see a movie in the movie theaters as well last week.  I was truly just in the need to get out of the house and since it was the dollar theater I didn't thin it would be to much of a hardship to just get up and leave if we needed too.  Luckily we didn't need to because both girls sat there throughout the whole movie.  We saw Madagascar 3 and it was a lot of fun.  Emma was the best because, as you can imagine, every time she wanted to say something she would talk at the top of her lunges, "Mom look, it's a Tiger", or she would laugh and explain something to me.  It's pretty impossible trying to get her to whisper when she is excited about something.  Hopefully the other people in the theater just got a kick out her exclamations. 

This past week we started up with our preschool co-op again.  We have a fresh new set of kids, and Emma has sure been excited.  I had the opportunity to teach the first week and it went pretty well.  It's always hard to know what to expect since most of the kids have never been in a structured "classroom" environment/routine.  I think for the most part everyone had a great time and we can't wait for the fun activities we have planned this year.  I hope all the other moms are as excited as I am.  I have sure enjoyed having this opportunity for Emma to be in preschool.  Although she will have experienced 3 years of preschool by the time she enters Kindergarten, I think it has been such a great thing for her.  I has helped her academically of course, but the social aspect, as well as learning to listen to someone other than her mom is so valuable.  It has also given me a chance to use my education as well so it doesn't seem like I am completely losing it. 

Vivian is getting so much better at walking.  She has been taking quite a few steps the last few weeks, but in the last few days she has just taken off.  I will have to get a video to show.  She gets so determined and excited.  Sometimes it seems as if she is surprised that she is still standing.  These kids sure bring us joy.  Gotta love em. 







On a sidenote I have been obsessed the last couple of days.  Mike has been gone on business for the last 3 days, and in order to keep myself busy I have been reading "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay" again.  Love "Catching Fire", could do without reading "Mockingjay" again.  I should not ever pick up books because I get obsessed with them to the point of not getting enough sleep, hence why I am going to end this post and go hop into bed while I still have a chance and the girls are napping.  Oh wait, Vivian is stirring, Urgh, my nap will have to wait. :)

The Joy of Feeding Vivian

For some reason I have been treating Vivian like a little baby for a lot longe than I ever did with Emma.  We are SLOWLY transitioning her into more table foods.  She has been doing more and more what is shown in this video so I am no longer going to be giving her the strained baby food.  She just doesn't want to be a baby anymore and I need to let go myself.  :)  Silly kids. 

Weekend Adventures

This summer we've been able to get out a little bit and enjoy some quality family time. A few week ago we decided to go camping. A friend of mine told me about a camp site not too far from our house that was free for use. Little did I know that it would be almost completely barren and rather warm. We ended up having a decent time, but think it would be the best to go camping there next spring when all of the wild flowers are in bloom. It was nice not freezing at night, and although Emma had a hard time sleeping it was nice to just be together and doing something different.

Last weekend we took a trip down to Los Angeles. We had some friends getting sealed in the temple and so Mike went to the sealing while I walked with the girls around the temple. Emma loves seeing the temple and can't wait until she is old enough to be able to go inside. We then headed down to Santa Monica beach and the Pier. We haven't been to the beach since before Vivian was born so it was nice to go again. Since Emma has been taking swim lessons she was very excited about the water. Mike took her out and held on while the waves picked her up and down. She was loving it and called it the water she could stand on. Vivian enjoyed crawling all over the beach as well. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

                          

Swimming!

It has been so hot here this last week that we have taken full advantage of our friends with swimming pools.  Both Emma and Vivian love the water.  For the past month both of them have been taking swim lessons.  I was able to take advantage of this program for children under 5 where they are able to get a 2 week swim session for 5 dollars.  TOTAL!!  They also had a mommy and me class for younger kids so Emma, Vivian, and I signed up for a whole month.  It has been fun and Emma has really improved.  She is not ready to swim in the Olympics, but she has become more comfortable in the water and is doing so much better at kicking her legs and blowing bubbles.  Vivian loves the feel of the water and splashing around.  Hopefully she'll continue to love swimming once she gets older and begins to recognize fear.  Well here are some pictures and a video for your viewing pleasure.

Luckily Emma's little friend Corbin, from preschool, was particpating as well and his mom Sandy was always so willing to help me out with Vivian.

Ripped in 30!

(Sorry for the immodest picture of old Jillian)

So thanks to my husband for the encouragement as well as my sister-in-law Melodee for introducing me to Miss Jillian's workout videos, I have successfully completed 2 days of Ripped in 30 workouts!  I know most of you are probably rolling your eyes at this point because, lets be honest, 2 days isn't exactly anything to shout about, but for me it has been an accomplishment.  For those of you who know me well you will know that I HATE to exercise.  I have taken a terribly long sabbatical from exercise and it was time to get back on board.  I like workout videos because I can exercise in the comfort of my own home with no one but Emma watching me.  :)  The first time I did the video I thought I was going to die, but at the end she just emphasized how hard we had worked and how good it felt to push yourself to the limit and just "show up" in our lives.  It was what I needed to hear and it was amazing how much easier it was to do again.  So I hope that I can keep it up and get into a better routine, because it makes me feel stronger physically and mentally.  I feel like if I can do something that hard, that I can make it through the rest of the challenges each day.  I just wanted to write these feelings down before I forget and return to my comfortable couch potato ways.  Any encouragement and support would be wonderful.

Vivian's First Birthday

We were lucky enough to get to celebrate Vivian's birthday even though she had been sick the whole week prior.  Heidi came and had made Viv a nice and "healthier" birthday cake, (so sweet of her) and it was a lot of  fun watching her play with it.  She didn't get a whole lot in her mouth, but she had fun all the same.  It was so nice to have my Dad and Dorothy, Heidi and Owen, as well as Daniel, Goldie and Journey there.  We hadn't seen my brother Daniel yet so I was grateful they made the trip to join us.   There is just  never enough time to see everyone as long as we'd like too.  We had cake and ice cream and Viv was able to open her presents. 

This past year has just flown by.  I can't believe our little baby is no longer a baby anymore.  She is definitely gaining her own little personality and is quite the stubborn child.  Our children are so sweet and fun loving, but they are very strong willed.  I think they are supposed to be teaching their mother patience.  Vivian is working on standing by herself, but loves to stick her bum in the air and walk with her legs sticking straight.  I don't know what to compare her too, but it is sure cute.  A bear crawl maybe?  Vivian loves to beg for food.  If we are ever eating anything she has to be in on it as well, and she sure lets you know what she wants. 

Viv says Mom, Dad, and Emma.  She has been experimenting more with different sounds and I can tell that she is understanding more and more that the things around her have names and she has begun to point and babble as if showing me things or asking me what they are.  She loves her bottle, but is very picky about the temperature of her drinks.  She likes everything warm.  She has begun to give kisses. She is a mommy's girl for sure.  She will go with other people, but throws a fit if she sees her mom anywhere close by.  She has the cutest little smile.  She grins with her big gappy tooth grin and scrunches up her nose at the same time.  It just cracks me up.  She also laughs like Ernie from Sesame Street, more like a cackle.  Vivian loves animals and was so excited to be home with Rusty. 

We sure love Vivian and can't wait to watch her grown up into a sweet and kind young girl. 

Utah Trip 2011

So now that we are back in sunny California I have the daunting task of trying to recapture the events of the last couple of weeks. We were dreading the drive to and back, but it wasn't that bad and we were very blessed with safety on our trip. We stayed with the Andals for the first night and then headed up to the Salt Lake Valley for the first week. We were trying to remember all of our favorite parts of the trip and there are just so many. Most of all we just loved the time we were able to spend with family.

Emma playing with Cousins at Aunt Gigi's Retirement Party

We loved having a chance to got the Stadium of Fire and watch "The Beach Boys" perform. I had never been the to Stadium of Fire and so the whole experience was a lot of fun for me. Mike of course was excited to see the Beach Boys perform with Brian Wilson. For as old as they are getting I was so impressed with the show. It was so much fun and they had everyone on their feet dancing along. The fireworks weren't too bad either. Thanks to my sister Jackie for watching the kids for us. We got to spend some time with her cute fam as well. 

On Friday we took a trip on the Trax down to Salt Lake so Emma could see the "Lake" Temple.  She keeps telling us that when she is a mommy she is going to get married in the "Lake" temple because it is HER temple.  When we got there she hardly payed any attention too it.  I think the whole trip was pretty overwhelming, but fun.  It was fun having Melodee and Ann with us as well. 

 Saturday we got together with my family and went to the zoo. It was a little crazy trying to keep us all together, but it was fun, especially to see my mom enjoying herself. It had been upwards of 30 years since she had been to Hogle Zoo, such a shame.

 We had a nice time just visiting, getting manicures, and playing games as a family. Thanks to those who were good sports and came and participated. The next few days were unfortunately some of the worst of our trip. Vivian got sick on Saturday night and was vomiting until Thursday. It got too the point where we couldn't keep anything in her so we took her to the ER and she had to have and I.V.. It was so sad to have to hold her down while they tried to put the IV in multiple times. I was just about to hug the sweet nurse who finally got it to stick after 6 attempts. Oh I just shudder at the thought. I HATE IVs. Poor girl. She was so relieved once they got the needle in that she fell right to sleep and was feeling so much better once she was able to get some fluids. We had to keep her on so nausea medicine for a few days, but she is 100% better now. Now she is just teething again and is so cranky, but at least that is normal. I was grateful that my husband and father were able to give her a blessing and that everything turned out o.k.. Thankfully we didn't spend the whole 4 days stuck in the hanger. A lot of time, but not all of it. It was nice to be able to visit with my mom and dad, and we also were able to get some game playing in with the Fonnesbeck boys and Daniel's family as well as Heidi and Owen and my Dad and Dorothy were able to join us for Vivian's birthday party. (More info to come) The rest of our trip was full of fun with the Sharp side of the family. Marnie and Kory were so kind to let us stay with them even with sick kids and it was so nice to be with family and not quarantined. I had been going stir crazy. Thursday we were able to celebrate Mike's brother Matt's marriage. Since he was married in China we had their reception that night and it turned out very nice.

Photo's from China

 My girls loved playing with their cousins and dancing with mom. Emma also got to help her Dad "decorate" Matt's car. Hopefully she won't get any ideas from him.:) Friday we were supposed to head up the canyon for the Sharp family camp out, but Vivian was still not acting quite herself and Emma threw up right before she and Mike were to leave. It was disappointing not being able to spend more time, but it was the best thing for the girls. Saturday morning we got up and headed up the canyon. It was a beautiful camping spot and I was able to go on a fun yet rain soaked hike with the fam while Mike kindly stayed back while Vivian slept and he and Emma were able to go on a "shorter" hike. We had fun playing games while it rained outside, eating and visiting with each other. We were glad that we didn't ever sleep over because I guess they just had pouring rain every night. I don't think I or my children would have been very happy.