A Good Moment

We had some family pictures taken last month.  I just wanted to post these cute "moments" cut from a couple of the shots.  Zoeth was having a good time with the camera!

Growin' Up

5 months . . . Sitting up, reaching, chewing, playing, giggling, so much fun!

Fall Harvest

Today we harvested.  All day.

Apples

Grapes

Reaching

Climbing

Helping

Lifting

Exciting

Baking

Eating!

Happiness Is For Sharing

Pioneer Day 2013

(Sam was sick and Zoeth was sleeping peacefully in the handcart...)

4th of July

Pancake breakfast, parade, homemade ice cream, barbecue, fireworks . . . the very epitome of summer in the US of A!

The Little Jasper That Could

Jasper completed a sprint triathlon this week.  It consisted of a 350 yard swim, 12 mile bike ride, and 3.3 mile run.  His total time was 1 hr 46 minutes.  (FYI, I don't think I could do that right now . . .)

Starting the swim:

Finishing the swim:

Full sprint to the finish line . . . tongue hanging out and all! 

Elusive Baby Smiles

If brand new parents didn't already know this when that sweet bundle of joy first arrives, they find out soon that newborn babies don't really smile.  Not really.  It comes as a great disappointment to some.  But we are seasoned vets.  We know grinning and cooing baby cuteness comes several weeks down the road.  And when smiles start appearing, those moments are fleeting, folks!  I told Peter every day for a week or more that Zoeth has started smiling (awake, on purpose, making eye contact!) before Peter ever caught a glimpse of him grinning.  Capturing a smile from this little guy on camera is even harder.  But here are some recent attempts:

 Not really.

 Nope.

 Cute, but no.

 Oh . . . caught a little bit of that one!

And this one :-)

Born Singing

Sam was singing before he could speak.  It's a gift for him.  He has been singing with Grandpa Dan's symphonic choir over the last few months in preparation for a spring concert.  Below is a link to a video of the song featuring Sam as soloist.  While I don'rt think this video does much to show off his talents, we are proud as anything of Sam's singing abilities, and impressed with his courage to perform in front of a huge concert hall!

View Video

Zoeth John

We are all excited to welcome

Zoeth John

to our family!  Zoeth weighed in at 8 lbs 8 oz at birth.  He eats & sleeps well, and is growing like a weed!  He is overly adored by his big brothers and sister--they would hold and play with him 24 / 7 if we let them.

Zoeth is the name of one of Michelle's great-grandfathers, and John comes from a couple of great-great grandfathers on Peter's side of the family.  Since someone asked, Zoeth is pronounced in two syllables:  "zoe - eth".  (Click on the slideshow below to see the pictures full-screen.)

Admiring all his newborn perfection made me think of this song (follow the link, then click the baby picture)!

General Conference Packets

**Updated for April 2013**  If you participate in the LDS Church's General Conference twice each year, and you have little ones in tow like I do, you may like to use the following links for activity booklets available free online. Most of these are NOT official church websites . . . just a lot of work others have done and made available. Also, some of these are links to booklets prepared for previous sessions of conference, but some of the pages are still great for this spring. I like to pick individual pages from different packets and "personalize" a booklet for each of my kids. They also use the activity booklets in church during the 6 months between conference sessions (bonus for me :-).

Food Storage & Beyond
Little LDS Ideas
Red-Headed Hostess
Scribd
Sugardoodle (Several on this site)
LDSResources.Net
Discover Scriptures (has a booklet about Pres. Monson)
LDS.org
Sugardoodle, the second! (TONS!!! of stuff to browse)
Crystal Shares
Beehive Messages
Nurture Mama (with several links to Sugardoodle ideas)
A Little Tipsy

53 Degrees, My Friends!

When the sun finally comes out after a long winter, we GET OUTSIDE folks!  (Ok, at 7 months pregnant, you will notice I was not on a bike . . . I just sat on the porch and watched everyone take off :-)  You will notice the edges of our lawn poking through the snow.  We haven't seen our lawn since Christmas Day.

Helicopter Birthday Cake

He asked for a helicopter cake.  I don't know what came over me when I said, "Yes."  Here's how it went:

Ta-Dah!

I only used one package of cake mix--1 round pan and a small rectangular pan.  And I found my inspiration here.  Happy Birthday, Kiddo :-)

Oh Deer!

We live right by the mountains.  Deer wander through our yard and neighborhood all the time, especially with all the snow recently.  We came home at 5:30 or so one evening to find two friends relaxing on the lawn:

And the kids got to walk right up to our neighbor's fence and say hello to the 8 deer in the back yard:

(It's fun to take cool pictures right now, but the truth of the matter is, I'm gearing up for spring battles over my garden plants...)

Baby Business

This is a picture I took of my two sisters mid-October:

Here they are again--now, with babes-in-arms:

And here's one of me!

Travel Log

I made two out-of-state trips in the last month to visit with family and friends.   I just wanted to share a couple of fun tidbits in pictures:

A bull-fighting arena in Juarez

 Crazy bright quinceanera dresses - Eliza would have LOVED to see them in person!

 Alternate--and creative--modes of transporting things "south of the border"

 I made my mom get this hat!

 I think the road runner is the New Mexico state bird.  This one was hanging out on the edge of a parking lot.

Some cute outdoor decor at my mom's house

Close-up with the wildlife

My good friend, Stormy, and her awesome family

A tour of the Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder

LOVED this teapot on display at the factory