True Aggie

We had fun this Christmas opening lots of gifts and spending time with family. Here are a few pictures of some of the gifts:

Between Grandpa and Santa Hannah's bound to become an Aggie.

This walker was another gift from Grandpa. Don't worry, he definitely doesn't spoil her - not at all.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

6 Months

So, I feel like the only thing I ever really post about is Hannah. I guess it probably gets old, but I don't have much else going on in my life. She had her 6 month check-up and she's doing great. She's 26 1/2 inches long (75th percentile) and 16 lb 6 oz (70th percentile). That's our chubby little girl. We're so proud! :D

My Goal

I've done pretty good on my candy intake since having Hannah -- until this week. I don't know what happened, but my sweet tooth has taken over. Not good. Not good at all. I just feel yucky. So, my goal is to have no treat at all tomorrow. I'd like to go longer, but it is the weekend and Christmastime, so we'll start with one day. I better go put those freshly baked cookies out of sight!

Hannah's First Hair Cut

Yep, it's true. She actually did have her first hair cut - one strand. It's about two inches longer than the rest of her peach fuzz, so we decided to cut it.

My Dilemma

Just in case you were wondering...it's FREEZING outside. Below freezing to be exact. This is a problem considering we like warmth. My solution is.....to stay inside. Brilliant, isn't it? I got home on Sunday and haven't stepped foot outside, not even to get the mail. So far it has worked pretty well for us. I've been working on Christmas projects and doing lots of baking to warm up the house. I'm just not sure how long we can keep it up. Eventually we'll need food...and to dispose of the diapers. Maybe I can convince James to do the dirty work! I'd love to show pictures of the projects I'm doing, but don't want to ruin the surprise. Maybe later.

5 Months

Yikes - she's really 5 months old. I can't believe she's that old, but on the other hand it seems like she's always been a part of our lives. It's funny how time works. She has recently rolled over a few times, but other than that not much new has happened. Hannah is fun and keeps us entertained, below are just a few of her funny expressions.

She gives me this look a lot. Iwonder what she's so concerned about?! :D

Candy Bar Cookies

A little bit of this...

mixed with one of these...

makes these yummy candy bar cookies!!

I took these pictures horizontally and they show up on the computer horizontal, but when I put them on the blog they turn vertical. I don't know why and I don't know how to change it. Urg. Sorry.

New Ride

James needed something for work (and we've been home long enough), so we decided it was time to buy a vehicle. We are the proud new owners of a Nissan Pathfinder. I never thought we'd own an SUV. We're usually the type that goes for a smaller, more gas efficient car. But, James needed something he could haul tools in for work and we wanted to be able to seat a family in it... so SUV it was. It's painful to pay for gas, but other than that we've really liked it.

Happy Hannah!

So, the first couple of months everyone would ask me if Hannah was a good baby. Hello, she is my 1st and I have nothing to compare to, so I basically have no idea. After a few months of experience and watching other babies around me I've decided that Hannah was kind of fussy. Not scream all day and night fussy, but always hungry and wants to be held fussy. I got sick of holding her all day and never getting anything done. When people would tell me I was lucky I had such a good baby (she always seemed to be good during church) I kind of wanted to poke their eyes out. But, the past month or so she has gotten so much better. She can sit in the bouncy seat or swing for a few minutes and be content. She smiles a lot at us and doesn't fuss nearly as much. It's amazing. She really has become a happy baby! Hooray. I actually agree when someone tells me I'm lucky. Now, I just need to master nap time.

Don't you just love this adorable hat?

My friend made it. I just love it. She has tons of other designs and does custom orders, too. To see them go here: http://www.jacisjuicy.blogspot.com

(If I knew how to do it you could just click on the word "here" and it would link you to that page, but I don't know how to do that. Sorry. If anyone else does, feel free to share with me.)

I think her hats are so CUTE!!

Yummy

Doesn't that just look......like something you wouldn't want to eat? Luckily you don't have to. I decided to try my hand at making some baby food. I didn't want to make too much just in case it didn't work or she doesn't like a certain kind. So, I cooked and pureed a small squash and some carrots we already had. It was pretty simple and a lot cheaper than the store bought baby food. Let's just hope she eats it!

Sweet Deal

We have planned on getting a jogging stroller all along. I just haven't been able to decide on a single or double wide one. The fact that it's so cold outside now and that they're so darn expensive - I decided to wait until Spring to get one. However, this beauty was only $10 at a garage sale. Wahoo!! All we had to do was pump up the tires and it was ready to go. Can I just say that I LOVE it! A whole new world of afternoon walks has opened up to us. I'm just sad that there won't be too many days left to enjoy it, but until then, it's great!!

4 Month Photos

I'm not really that good about remembering to take pictures and I'm not really that good at taking them either. Fortunately for us, my sister is. She's the official unofficial family photographer. So whenever she comes around we put her to work. Here are a couple she took last time she was here.

I love her smile.

1st Feeding

At her 4 month checkup the doctor gave us the go ahead to start feeding Hannah cereal. Yippee!! I realize that may not sound exciting, but it is when you spend 6 hours a day feeding her. So, I'm looking forward to supplementing with food. Anyway, last night we spoon fed her some cereal for the first time. As expected we made a mess, but we got some great facial expressions from her. It was pretty fun. Here's one picture we got that kind of shows the mess. She sneezed a few times and I think we got as much on us as she did on her bib. All-in-all it was pretty fun

Sweetness

My sister came down for the weekend and while she was here we made caramel apples. Okay, by we I really mean she. My duty was to stir the caramel and hand her apples. Tough work huh? This picture only shows them halfway done. They were dipped in caramel. Then once they were cooled they were dipped in chocolate and coated with either heath bits, skor bits, or drizzled white chocolate. Can you say yummy?! They were pretty tasty and beautiful too. Sorry I don't have a picture of the final product.

While she was here, Becky also helped me paint Hannah's room AND babysat Hannah while James and I went to dinner. Isn't she awesome?

Life

Hannah has cried almost the entire day.
I have gotten NOTHING done. Nothing at all.
I'm tired.
Most every room is messy.
I don't know what to make for dinner.

Part of me just wants to sit down and cry, but the other part just has to laugh. This is life - as mundane and unproductive as it is some days. One day I'll look back at these moments with fondness so I might as well enjoy them while they're here.

Family Photo

So here is the most recent family picture. My sister took the picture and edited it. I think 4 or 5 people are photoshoped in with a better picture. Crazy - you can't even tell.

twenty-eight

This was the temperature when I got up to run this morning. Yikes. Let's just say it was an invigorating run. I don't think I'm ready for it, but I believe winter is here.

My Goal

Hannah has been sleeping in a bassinet that she's rapidly outgrowing. We have avoided anything permanent (setting up a crib, decorating, etc..) because we thought we might be moving. Now that we're going to be here for a while it's time to set up the nursery. My goal is to have her room done by her 4 month mark, in three weeks. Here's what the plan is:

* Week 1 = move everything in the room that's not supposed to be there and find a new home for it.

* Week 2 = thoroughly clean the room, pull off wallpaper, and prime the walls.

* Week 3 = paint, move Hannah's stuff in, and put up decorations

Here's hoping it happens!!

Girls Weekend

My three sisters flew in for a girls weekend to do some redecorating in my mom's house. Since I am lacking in the decorating expertise and had Hannah attached to me most of the time I was mostly just there for moral support. My sisters, however did a great job. The re-did above the kitchen counters, the dinning area, re-finished some bedroom furniture, and helped jazz up a plain bathroom. I didn't take any before photos so you can't compare, but here is some of the finished work.

Here's the new red wall. It's not as boring as before. I really like the quote on the wall.

Here they redecorated everything above the cabinets. Ignore the clutter down below. This was taken before everything was cleaned and put away.

I don't have pictures of the bedroom and bathroom that were done. My battery died in the camera, but you get the idea. It was fun to get together with all the girls. I hope we can do it again.

3 Month Photo

So, I've gotten like 5 different coupons in the mail for JCPenny's portrait studio and finally decided that it's time to do a professional photo for Hannah. I never take pictures so it needed to be done. Of course it ended up being expensive when it was supposed to be cheap, so we're done with them for a while. However, I think they turned out pretty cute. Here she is at 3 months.

Isn't she cute? We don't know where she got it from, but we'll take it.

It's Official

As of today James is officially employed with a "real" job. After lots of thought and more thought and some debating we decided to turn down an offer for teaching at a University in Korea. It was a tough decision, but it's made and now time to move on. James will be working here in Cache Valley for a energy efficiency company, Synergy. That means we'll probably be around here for a while. We're just glad that we've finally made a decision. :D Does this mean we've entered into real life?

Hike!

This past week James had a day off of work so we decided to go on a hike. We went up Logan Canyon and hiked the Crimson Trail. This was the view from the top. It's pretty isn't it? We love the outdoors but it seems like we don't take time to enjoy what we have very often. It was a short hike, but it was really nice to get out and do it. Here's a picture of Hannah enjoying the ride. Don't you like the over sized hat?

Not So Snug

OK, this is a picture of Hannah during her nap time. The pink thing is nicknamed the "mummifier" because it mummifies the baby in it. Since she moves around so much we wrap her in this. There's a slot for the feet and then it wraps around the body and velcros shut so she can't move her arms and legs. That is the general idea anyway. She was mummified when I laid her down for the nap, but this is what I found when I checked on her after she was done crying and fell asleep. She's not exactly as snug as a bug in a rug. It kind of defeats the purpose of being mummified, but she fell asleep so I won't complain.

Fried Brain

I think I'm loosing my mind. Actually I think I lost it a while ago but I've blamed it on lack of sleep. I'm now realizing I'm just loony. All of our stuff is packed away into boxes in my parents storage room. There are a few things we have wanted but we've made due without because we don't want to dig through all the boxes. Well, next week I start online classes and I need my financial calculator. Of course it's in a small nicely labeled box among all of our stuff, we just don't know where. Needless to say we spend quite a while looking for it and finally, in the last box in the furthest corner of the room is the one we're looking for. Here's a picture of James sorting through our stuff:

We open the box and tada....there's the calculator. Only one small problem, it's a graphing calculator and I need a financial calculator. Oops. After thinking about it I used the financial calculator in Thailand and left it there. I knew that. My frazzled brain just chose to forget. On the bright side, we're much more familiar with where our stored goods are.

Finicky Family Fun

Last week was our official family reunion. My siblings are spread all through the country and don't get together very often. We hadn't seen some in over 3 years - before Thailand. As always it was fun to get together. My parents house seemed a little to small at times for all 28 of us, but we survived. While everyone was here we took the dreaded family pictures. I don't have one with all of us yet. My sister is the family photographer but wasn't in the picture so she's doing a little photoshopping. However, we do have the individual families. I can't believe how big all my nieces and nephews are.

Jan, Jared and their 5 munchkins

Crazy Clint, Jana and their 4 cute kiddos

Jeromy with his 2 fun kids

Natalie, Jeff and their 4 squirts

Becky and her beautiful self

Adorable Hannah. I guess I should have put a picture of all 3 of us, but this is cuter.

Here are some random pictures of the different activities we did with everyone:

Hannah thoroughly enjoying the 24th of July parade. She slept through the entire thing. However, the other kids really enjoyed the candy and the different people.

Kayla's showing off her new flower hair clip. We did the activity for the 'girls' but it turned out to be more for the moms. Funny how that works sometimes.

Ashley's holding up her flip flops. This was another activity for the 'girls'. They really liked them and they turned out really cute. It seems like there's a predominate female theme.

Just a random shot of two dancing. I don't know why they were dancing, but it's pretty cute.

Here they are making funny faces at Tony's Grove. We spent a fun day hiking and playing in the water.

Don't ask. These three are just goofing off.




Here she's sporting the newly painted t-shirt. This was another kids activity, but it included boys and girls this time!



Here are some of my older nieces. I can't believe how much they've grown. Where does the time go?

It was fun to see everyone. There was a lot of chaos, but that's the way it goes when 28 people are sharing 1 house.

Hannah

A couple of years ago I met Hanna, an extended relative in Germany and fell in love with her. We didn't speak the same language and lead very different lives, but she is wonderful. She's such a sweetheart and so kind, but she's also got some spunk. James and I decided several years that we wanted to name a daughter after her. So, here's Hannah's namesake:

On Sunday, James gave Hannah her name and blessing in church. It was a sweet and very humble blessing. James was nervous about it, but everything went really well (she even kept quiet during the whole thing - hurray)! I love watching James interact with her - it's neat to see how much he loves her. I appreciate all he does. Anyway, here she is all decked out in her blessing dress. You'd never believed I cut about a foot off of the pattern. Oh well, I think she looks pretty darn cute!

Another Project!!

When James made the first two picnic tables our neighbors saw them and loved them. He has since made two more with several others expressing interest in them. Once he started making them he must have caught a fever for it. He found an octagonal picnic table for sale online that he really liked. Since he had time he decided he wanted to try to make it. He had no plans or pattern for the table and only one picture to go off of, but he did it. After hours and hours (and some more hours) of thinking, figuring out angles, and working he completed this table. Doesn't it look great? I'm so proud of him.