Her first "time out"

Today my daughter was on a roll. First we attempted to go to stake conference. "Attempt" was the key word in that phrase. Our little Miss was so BUSY. She wouldn't stay in our laps, she wouldn't let us stand and hold her, there was no way she was sitting in a seat, and she thought all the other children's toys nearby were hers for the taking (their snacks too). Needless to say we left a little early, only to have her come home and delay her nap by wanting to play. She FINALLY went down and I could have a little R&R which was necessary to prepare me for what was to come.

Later, at dinner, she pushed, farted, and then giggled. When she realized we thought it was funny she kept trying to do all sorts of other bodily functions. She'd grunt and then giggle, and then burp and giggle. I know I shouldn't encourage such behavior but she had us laughing so hard. What a little stinker... quite literally in that case.

After dinner Ella and I were playing but she often gets frustrated if I don't let her have something or don't let her get into something. We were having such a moment when she slapped me across the face. It actually hurt that little booger. She's learned to hit lately- I think from when she would flail her arms but then she realized it could actually be something she could do to prove her point. I had a hard time focusing on the fact that she had just hit me because I was so distracted by what came next. She thinks when someone says ouch that it's funny, so when I said something of that nature she burst out laughing. It was a long belly laugh and was actually hilarious to watch. I'm watching her giggle herself silly and was finding myself completely endeared to her but I knew she had to learn it wasn't right to hit. Shaun watched the whole ordeal and tried very hard to not let Ella see he was laughing hysterically too. I tried to keep my composure long enough to place her in time out for one minute. She needed to learn it's not funny to hit people, but boy oh boy today it was. She didn't like time out one bit but I think she got the message. At least for the time being. Shaun and I had a huge laugh over it after putting her to bed tonight. She is so mischievous.

Why do I have the feeling she is going to keep us very busy during her childhood? Why am I feeling as if Shaun's mother's "curse" to have a child just like him is being fulfilled? Okay, curse is a strong word. The truth is I wouldn't change her personality for the world. Sure there are moments I wish she were more cuddly, but she is so strong and independent. Despite my descriptions of her independence she is also very loving. She gives the best hugs and kisses. She is curious about everything and she is smart. You can see she's picking up on everything... even sarcasm. We'll just have to do a really good job of teaching her right from wrong so she doesn't reek havoc in her Kindergarten classroom:) In between now and then my mother's intuition is telling me that she will most likely be returning to "time out" to learn these lessons. Oh how I love that my little Miss, stinker that she is!

30 and counting

30 memories that have made life worth living. They're in no particular order. Just random memories that come to mind and make me happy:

1. Our wedding- I would go back and relive that day as well as the following day when we had our reception time and time again.

2. My little girl being born. What a beautiful and precious moment.

3. Weekend Warrior Days back in the fall of 2002. Whether Heather and I were traipsing off to Winchester or Collin and Jared were here visiting us, the four of us always had a great time... and I lost my shoe at the base of Old Rag. How did that happen anyway?

4. The Warrenton Epicenter Days in the summer of '99. It was Ben Bennett, Veeda, Grace, me, and o' those summer nights

5. My first kiss. It was great. No regrets, even if my husband does make fun of me for being 19.

6. Graduating from BYU in April of 2001. I graduated with my good friend, Chris Davies. It was a nice moment. My sisters and Tamy came to support me. It was wonderful and it meant a lot to have their support.

7. Speaking of BYU, the worst date I ever went on occurred there. It might not be a good memory, but I will never forget being told by a guy while on our date that "he had to go number two, and it was going to take a while." Thinking about it now I still get the hebee jebees.... yuck! Thanks John Paul for setting me up. I still haven't forgiven you for that one!

8. London, March, 2004. There hasn't ever been a more fun adventure. I love and cherish those memories and the girlfriends I share them with.

9. The wax museum with Jen, Jake, and John McCann. Oh what a trip that was. I also enjoyed other road trips with Jen and John. They're loyal and wonderful friends.

10. Watching the sun rise with Grace at the beach every year and getting breakfast at that little restaurant. Grace's redneck tour on the way to and from the restaurant also tops my list of memories... "The Sir Walter Motel...For those of us that did not make reservations in time enough."

11. Long talks with my sister, Michelle, at her in-law's house or at her house or at any house... just talking with my sister is one of my favorite things to do.

12. Beach trips with my family to South Carolina

13. Janet, Thomas, and Lauren's visits to see us these past two years

14. Growing up with my brother, John Paul, and loving him for all of his idiosyncrasies

15. Performing "A Day in the Life of Apt 16" with college roomies Veeda, Marilyn, and Val... complete with dry ice in the dream sequence. What a bunch of goofs we were

16. Getting my MSW in the Spring of 2004

17. Hearing my little girl speak her first words. She recently learned "flower" and "outside". It's so wonderful to hear her little voice as she's making connections with conversation. I love her sooo much.

18. Thursday nights at Centreville Institute with Brother Jewkes, Shaun, Scott, Vanessa, Katie, and a whole host of others. That was my favorite night of the week and I would look forward to it all week.

19. Walks with my dad. He's a great listener and gives me great advice on jobs, money, and life in general. I hope we can continue to do those walks for a long time.

20. Any number of nights my husband and I settle down with a good movie and a nice snack. It's one of our favorite ways to relax. I love him.

21. My husband proposing to me. He took me out to a beautiful field by a stream close to where we had our first date. He had flowers and dinner already prepared. He gets an A+ for his delivery:)

22. Any memory of Charleston, South Carolina. I've been there several times now and every time has been wonderful. Our honeymoon and staying at Charleston Place tops the list though.

23. Hugs from my little girl. She's quite independent so I have to sneak them in when she's tired but every once in a while she just runs up to me and hugs me spontaneously. There's no better feeling.

24. Passing my LCSW exam this past November! What a relief!

25. Decorating the Christmas tree every year with my mom. I love my mom for so many reasons. She has taught me so much, and because of her I will ALWAYS love Christmas time.

26. My sister riding down the hill on her bike without her pants on yelling "The British are Coming". That was a great truth or dare night:)

27. Talking with Veeda at night before falling asleep back at BYU. What a good roommate she was! I loved my Hampton 16 roommates! What good memories of ward prayers and big events we were always hosting (even if you did show my Air Supply home video to anyone who would sit still long enough to watch it). Roommates who felt more like sisters after time is a wonderful blessing.

28. My first love. A part of me will always love him. He was and still is a really wonderful person. I don't know if even he knows how torn up I was when things didn't work out. I hope he's well.

29. Trips with Adam and Tawnie. Shaun and I have so much fun with those two and their little girl.

30. My little girl's laugh. My favorite thing to do is make her giggle. My husband's laugh is also quite memorable! You have to be careful though or he might lose consciousness.

So after 30 years of life I was able to come up with 30 memories very quickly. There are so many more I could mention, but for the sake of knowing everyone else has things to do I'll leave it at that. I look forward to 30 more years and thousands of more memories. I am grateful for family, friends, and the memories that make life special!

Two more memories that I didn't feel right not including:

31. Sauble Lodge Boys Home and spending time with Rudy and all those other boys. They came to mean a lot to me and made me passionate about helping at risk youth. I spent Christmas with them and even though I was so far away from family, it was fun making chorizzo con huevos and burning waffles for them.

32. I hadn't really included any childhood memories. I had a nice childhood and have many good memories of my first friend who is still near and dear to me, Tamy. Performing our "princesses" skit was totally awesome... at least in our minds:) But the best memory ever was our re-enactment of the final dancing scene from "Dirty Dancing". I always had to play Patrick Swayzee and jump off the bed like he did off the stage. Oh Tam-- we were so silly. But the PS I love you club will always be ours.

Contra Dancing Take 2 and other adventures

About a year ago I blogged about going contra dancing.  For those of you who don't remember (which I would suspect would be anyone who actually happens to read this), contra dancing is kinda like square dancing with hippies in a big ballroom that isn't air conditioned.  By the end of the night, you've burned a ton of calories but you've danced with a ton of sweaty people.  What could be more fun, right?  I guess we had enough fun to try it again.  We really enjoy our friends that invite us and it was his birthday so off we went to the big ballroom for our second annual sweat fest!  We made sure to take the photo below BEFORE we got all sweaty.  

This is our friend Mike.  He was doing something goofy in every photo so this is what he gets, the photo posted on my blog for all to see.  He's a nut.  Would you believe he's also my sunday school teacher?

Seriously though, we really did have a great time.  We're blessed with really wonderful friends. This weekend we also celebrated my 30th birthday.  Shaun took me out to dinner last night and today (Sunday) we had a little barbeque with family and friends from church!  What a weekend:)  Turning 30 has had me thinking about my life thus far and where I'd like to see myself at the next big mile marker... maybe 10 years from now.  I think I might dedicate a whole blog to those thoughts at a later date.  For now I'll just post some photos of our fun weekend.

Being Mom

As I write this I can hear Shaun and Ella playing in the background.  No doubt he is chasing her and getting her all riled up, but she is loving it.  To me there is no better sound.  I'm so grateful to be a wife and mom.  No matter how many other roles I have or hats I wear, this will always be my favorite.  It will probably also always be the hardest, but maybe that's why I love it so much.  Anything you make sacrifices for you come to love over time.  Anyway, I love my little family.  We went to a beautiful wedding yesterday and we took a few family photos.  I posted some below.

She's 15 months and o' so busy!

Today marks Ella's fifteen month birthday. She is taking off both physically and verbally. The girl wont stop during the day. She doesn't just walk, she runs everywhere, and she is afraid of nothing. She also loves climbing and thinks it's great fun to climb on our couch and run back and forth from side to side. If you tell her no or ouch she thinks that's funny. She understands many directions and loves to blow kisses. Her daddy has taught her how to talk like an alien and everyone who hears her gets a kick out of that.

She's now saying mama, dada, papa, nana, Jesus, bye bye, hi (this one is her favorite), ball, gaga (cracker/cookie), car, light, uh oh, oww, mine, me (these two she says whenever you have something she wants), ish for shoe, ock for sock, and she is beginning to immitate all sorts of other words though we can't tell exactly what they are. I'm so proud of her. I'm sure everyone can tell how I just beam looking at her. She is the apple of our eye that little Miss. But as much as I love her, I'm soooo happy when she goes down at 8:30. It's finally unwind time before it all starts again bright and early the next morning:) I'm sure all you parents out there completely get that. Anyway, I'm looking forward to a very exciting summer of outings to the lake, visits with friends and family, and more time to be at home with my family. I haven't been the best about posting but as events pick up I hope to keep everyone apprised of all of our fun.

Ella just a few hours old

Ella three weeks old

Ella last April in her blessing gown, 3 months

Ella in November, 9 mos

Ella at Christmas, 10 mos

Ella this past March, 13 mos

Ella at Easter, 14 mos