... and Molly Makes Three

Bye Bye Binky...Hello Bed!

2012-02-07T17:35:00.000-06:00

The past 2 weeks have been busy for Molly. Not only did she throw away her binky but she moved out of her crib and into a "big girl bed". Getting rid of the binky has been on our minds for a few months, but we knew it would be hard. Even though we weren't letting Molly have her binky outside of her crib, she had come to rely on it to help her fall asleep.

I planted the idea of throwing the binky away 2 weeks ago before Molly's nap. At first she was completely against it. I talked to her about being a big girl and that she didn't need her binky anymore. "No throw away!" So I told her she didn't have to do it right now but when she was ready she could have a treasure in exchange for throwing away the binky. I thought this might go on for a day or two ending with a trip to the toy aisle.

About 30 minutes after our discussion, Molly asked for some m&m's. It was getting close to lunch so being the good mom that I am I told her no. She thought for a second and gabbered something like,"throw binky m&m's?"

Come on now, who in their right mind doesn't say yes to that? We hurried upstairs to grab the binky before she had time to think about it. I talked about what we were doing and gave her the binky. She threw it in the garbage and I made a big deal about saying "bye bye!" Then, for good measure, we tied up the kitchen trash bag and Molly helped me carry it outside to the garbage bin. We said our goodbyes again and went inside where Molly made a beeline for the m&m's.

With naptime came the hard part. Molly asked for her binky and I reminded her that she had thrown it away. Then she cried. She cried for 1 1/2 hours. I cried a little too. It took everything I had to not get the binky out of the garbage and comfort my baby! She didn't nap that day and bedtime was almost as hard. She was so worn out that she finally fell asleep. She had trouble sleeping for the next 2 nights but she didn't ask for her binky again.

"So hey, since we're working on this binky thing why don't we transition Molly into a big bed too. Change is hard enough so let's do it all at once!" I don't know if that was smart on our part or if we were completely out of our minds. We had Molly start sleeping on a twin mattress the day after she threw away her binky. Truth be told, Shane was out of town and I was using this as a ploy to get her to take a nap. I'd bring the big mattress into her room if she'd stay on in for her nap. Genius! (or so I thought). She had a great nap. We decided to buy her a bed.

That night she figured out that she could get out of bed and come into our room. I walked around like a zombie for a week from waking up so many times every night to take her back into her room and then cried my way through the next week from sheer exhaustion. I was just so tired!

I think our consistency is beginning to pay off. Molly only woke up once the last 2 nights and she's back on her schedule of 12 hours of sleep. I'm going to trow a party the first night she sleeps through the night in her new bed!

Big Girl Bed!

Busy Molly

2012-02-01T10:27:00.006-06:00

We often find Molly in some very serious situations...like this where she was very interested in her favorite movie "The Princess and the Frog".

Molly is also a pretty good "sous-chef" and she was very excited to help us make some pudding as our treat for Family Home Evening.

This is a random picture of Shane on a recent business road trip through New Mexico. He stopped by the White Sands National Monument and took some pictures of the sand dunes.

Christmas Pictures

2012-01-27T10:49:00.006-06:00

We had a great time visiting family in Utah for Christmas. Here are a couple shots from our adventures...along with a visit to InstaCare for Molly...her first ear infection. Luckily we got some antibiotics in her and she was playing with cousins in no time.

Having some Christmas candy with Grandma Jill, Charlie and Macy.

Molly and Meredith frosting sugar cookies.
Don't you love Molly's "cheetah" pj's from Grandma Edie!

Happy Birthday Shane!

2011-12-13T11:02:00.001-06:00

We love you and all of your alter egos!

Handsome business man

handyman

sous chef

marathoner

playground pro

BYU fanatic

All- round class act

Happy Birthday to the best husband and daddy in the world!

Caught in the Act Take 1 and 2

2011-12-06T23:26:00.001-06:00

Picture this: it's 9am. Molly's dressed, but just barely. I'm upstairs doing my make-up and I hear Molly walking downstairs. A little bit unusual, since she usually hangs out with me while I get ready, but I don't really think anything of it. 10 minutes pass and I head downstairs ready for the day. I hear noises coming from the kitchen so I peek around the corner and find Molly, knife in hand, trying to cut the butter that she's retrieved from the refrigerator that she just learned how to open. She looks over and smiles. Mac-and-Cheese!

Fast forward 2 days. Picture us eating cereal as a family around the kitchen table. Molly's finishing while I put my bowl in the dishwasher and the milk in the fridge. The dryer buzzes and I go into the laundry room to switch out the laundry. Not gone for more than a few minutes this is the scene upon my return:

"Mommy, I spill"

Notice the milk on the table? Yep, that's the one I just put away. Molly looked so sad and worried about the spilled milk it was all I could do to not burst out laughing. She got a little embarrassed when I called Shane to come see what she'd been up to. We moved her to a different chair so she could eat the bowl of cereal and milk that she'd poured, all by herself. (A first with the milk.) After much reassurance from us telling her that it was okay and that it was only an accident we asked that next time please ask for help. When she finished eating she helped me clean up the milk.

Fast forward to today. Molly's eating cereal. I've put away the milk and am checking my email in the next room. "Mama" Molly calls. I go into the kitchen and find the milk back on the table and ready to be poured. She looks up at me, "More, please."

My heart swells with pride, music fills the room and a small tear forms in the corner of my eye. I love my little girl!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T14:26:00.001-06:00

We had such a fun Thanksgiving weekend with Grandma and Grandpa and lots of cousins to play with. Molly was in heaven! We had so much fun playing, shopping, eating deep fried turkey and spending time together. Molly was so sad Sunday morning when she woke up and everyone was gone.

Molly and Cha Cha. It's so fun to have a cousin your age to play with. We went and saw Arthur Christmas. It was Molly's first time going to the movies and she loved it!

The lights at the Mesa Temple

Playing "chase"

We love Grandma and Grandpa!

Smile!

Yum! Watching the Krispy Kreme assembly line. It smelled heavenly.

The lights at the Mesa Temple. See the wise men with their camels in the background. So beautiful!

Grandma bought fun holiday p.j.'s for the kids

Ready for the Show!

2011-11-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

I asked Molly if she wanted to exercise with me and while I turned my back to put it the DVD she lined up some of her favorite things in front of the couch for the show. Not only cute, but entertaining as well (she keeps books in the shopping cart and read them while I exercised.) I only tripped over her a couple of times!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T16:37:00.000-05:00

Ready for some candy! Molly was really excited for her 1st year of trick or treating. She was thrilled to get candy but had just as much fun passing it out to the kids who came to our house.

Trick-or-Treat

2011-10-27T16:25:00.001-05:00

Last night was our church's annual Fall Festival including trunk-or-treating for the kids. Molly wasn't too keen on dressing up and she took off her witches hat as soon as I took the pictures, but boy did she love going from car to car filling her little pumpkin with candy! After a few cars she was even saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" without any prompting.

trick-or-treat!

She was especially in love with the little packs of m&ms

We've been doing all things pumpkin lately: cookies, decorations, clothes; I love hearing Molly sing, "Good morning pumpkin!" first thing when she wakes up and see's the pumpkin in the window.

I've been teaching Molly all of the Halloween songs that I grew up singing: 5 Little pumpkins; Mr. jack-o-lantern; Witches flying through the sky; and Boo, Boo, boo, boo! I'm a ghost to scare you.

She loves to sing and follows along with the actions!

I hope you're enjoying this Bewitching Season!

BYU Homecoming Game

2011-10-13T18:01:00.000-05:00

This weekend we had the coolest experience as my dad was honored by being asked to be the Y-Lighter at the BYU Homecoming Game. We didn't find out about it until a few days before the game but were able to make arrangements to fly in for the weekend. The entire family was invited to be on the field before the game while they highlighted my dad's career and how he's influenced BYU Football (he played football for BYU and was a BYU honorable mention All-American; he coached 3 of BYU's current football coaches when they were in high school; and he coached two of BYU's current players). Coincidentally being honored at BYU was just the icing on the cake for my dad who reached a career milestone the night before the game: his 300th career win as a high school football coach. Pretty Amazing! You can read about it here and here.

Here we are walking onto the field

Shane and the goal post

My parents on the field

...and walking off of the field

Molly playing the piano with Grandma

Autumn...

2011-10-03T16:42:00.000-05:00

It's October and suppose to hit 100 degree's today. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but despite my best efforts I'm having a hard time getting into it this year. I'm homesick for sweaters and colored leaves! As the weeks pass and the temperature dips below 100 I know that things will start looking up. I'm counting down the days until we can spend all morning at the park or go on a walk without getting heat exhaustion! Until then, I'm in need of some serious mental intervention ("I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog-gone-it it's fall!") My plan is to do something Fall or Halloween inspired every day this month. I'm not going to blog about everything we do, but if I come up with anything super cute or fun I'll definitely share.

I got this idea from the family fun website. We taped a couple pieces of posterboard together, cut out a jack-o-lantern, covered the back with yellow tissue paper and put it in our window. So cute!

(view from inside)

(view from outside)

The pumpkin made Molly a little nervous, but by morning she

was pretty excited to see her friend still sitting in the window!

Friend

2011-09-30T15:54:00.003-05:00

We're big fans of magazines around here and Molly has recently discovered that we get one for her too. We started getting the Friend at the beginning of the year but recently Molly has become attached to her "zeens". She's flipped through the 9 or so copies that she has and names them too. Her favorites are "Happy Birthday" (Pres. Monson's Birthday pictures on the cover) and "upside down" (the cover with kids playing on the monkey bars.) Pretty cute stuff!

Princesses...

2011-09-19T16:21:00.000-05:00

We were at the fabric store on Wednesday when Molly pointed to some fabric and exclaimed with excitement "Mama, princess!!!" Yes indeed, she'd spotted a bolt of princess fabric. I love princesses, but other than our favorite disney movies, we don't have any princess things in the house. We don't really talk about princesses and Molly hasn't spent a lot of time (if any) playing with princess toys at other peoples houses. Knowing that, you can imagine my surprise when she pointed to the fabric with Cinderella, Belle, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty and knew that they were princesses. It really must be genetic. Last night she picked out a dvd and instead of asking to watch a "moo-fee" she held up The Little Mermaid and said "Princess". Where she learns this stuff I'll probably never know, but I'm secretly hoping that she wants to start playing dress-up soon!

Birthday Fun

2011-09-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

Our sweet baby girl turned 2. Here's the play by play with pictures of Molly's birthday last week:

Wake up. Ohh and Ahh over the birthday decorations for a millisecond before making a mad dash over to birthday gift - a Molly sized kitchen.

Mmmm breakfast. Molly's choice: waffles, whip cream, raspberries, whip cream, chocolate milk and whip cream. There might have been some bacon and eggs in there somewhere, but breakfast really was all about the whip cream!

Open some presents...

Get dressed, go to the car wash (one of her favorite activities), pick up birthday balloons, make cupcakes, talk to grandparents and cousins on the phone, skip nap because we're having too much fun today, and play more kitchen while watching the BYU game.

Molly chose pizza for dinner and then it was finally time for cake and ice cream. Earlier in the week I showed Molly one of my cookbooks that has a picture for each of the cake and cupcake recipes. I asked her to pick out the one she wanted for her birthday and she immediately pointing to the picture of strawberry cupcakes. "Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!" she sang with glee. Those were the ones I was hoping she'd pick!

Yum! They really were good cupcakes.

(I'll post the recipe on glutenfreebetty.com soon).

more presents...

Happy Day. Happy Family.

Molly Loves...

2011-09-02T15:47:00.003-05:00

BYU

Stickers

backpacks, bags and purses

Pink

Purple

Helping in the Kitchen

She pointed out the church as we drove past the other day.

She reminded us to kneel down for prayers this morning

She asked for a purple towel during her bath
-she's getting one for her birthday

while we were making lunch she found the cupcake papers...

She knew exactly what to do with them!

2011-08-22T15:53:00.000-05:00

Today as I was putting a darling little sundress over Molly's head she promptly pulled it off. I tried again with the same result. After a third failed attempt I said,"But Molly, this dress is so cute and it's one of Mommy's favorites."

She looked at me with defiance and firmly responded,"No. BYU!"

I guess my little lady has decided to take an active role in how she dresses. This was the first time she's wanted a say in her outfit and there aren't enough tears in the world to show you how sad we both were that her BYU shirt was in the dirty clothes!!!

What can I say...train them while they're young!!!

Don't you love the crossed ankles? She thought of that all by herself!

Pillow Project

2011-08-09T16:01:00.000-05:00

Seriously, does it get any better than this!

I started this pillow for Molly the day she was born. We were waiting at the hospital for Molly's birth and I still needed some embroidery thread. There was a craft store across the street and since it didn't appear that Molly would make her appearance for several hours we decided to walk over and buy the thread. 20 minutes later as we were walking through the hospital doors we got a phone call from Molly's birth-grandfather saying that we needed to get to the birthing room as quickly as possible. Miracle of miracles, our sweet baby girl was born within the hour.

I finished the embroidery work before Molly was 2 weeks old and then it sat. And sat, and sat. And now, just in time for Molly's birthday next month, I'm finished! Yeah!

Molly is just as excited as I am!

Mac and "CHEESE"...

2011-08-01T16:28:00.000-05:00

"Come on guys! Is now really the best time to be taking my picture?

I've had a busy day playing at nursery and I want to eat!"

"Okay, but be quick about it."

"Time's up! My macaroni is getting cold."

"Why do I bother... I'll just ignore the camera."

Lunch is served!

July Adventures

2011-07-30T00:53:00.000-05:00

We spent most of July in Utah visiting family and escaping the Arizona heat. We took a ton of pictures that will probably never get posted, but here are a few until that day!

Hiking in the gorgeous Utah mountains

Riding the tractor at Thanksgiving Point

Slide

More sliding...

Did you notice the slide theme?

Days of 47 Floats

Alpine Slide or Bust!

Girly girl...

2011-06-30T17:27:00.000-05:00

I've never really thought of Molly as a girly girl - she's always loved her books more than her bracelets, dolls and purse. Being the book lovers that we are, this is something that we've encouraged. The other day Molly shuffled over to me in my sparkly sandals that she'd found in the closet. The next day she asked me to put Mrs. Potato Head's earring on and at nursery I spied her cuddling with a doll. She still carries her blankie and a book almost everywhere she goes, but even book lovers like to dress up and have a girls day every now and again!

Cupcake Craze...

One of Molly's favorite books is "If you Give a Cat a Cupcake". She excitedly sang out "cupcake" and pointed at the cupcakes I'd baked while she was napping on Sunday. I think she enjoyed putting sprinkles on the cupcakes just as much as eating them!

best buddies!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-20T00:23:00.000-05:00

We love you Daddy!

I made matching aprons for us to wear while we cooked up our Father's Day Feast! Molly's really into pockets and was so excited that her blankie fit in her apron pocket.

You Gotta Wear Shades

2011-06-20T00:16:00.000-05:00

Molly got a new pair of shades this week and she loves them! She wear her "Classes" inside, outside, and upside down. There isn't a wrong time or place when your shade are this cool!

Helping Daddy mow our patch of grass, in her shades and pajamas

...you gotta do yard work early when the sun is this bright!

I was cracking up when Molly started posing in front of the mirror with my hat and shades. Too bad about the smudges on the mirror - Molly was giving the mirror kisses as I was cleaning it.

Happy Girl!

2011-06-06T17:47:00.000-05:00

What a tease! As soon as I pulled out the camera Molly started giggling and playing peek-a-boo with her favorite new book - "Party" ( If you give a pig a party). This picture captures the happy girl that she is; always laughing, dancing and singing. She runs and hides when it's bedtime and squeals with delight when we chase after her. What a cutie!

I think we've got a winner!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-06-06T17:25:00.000-05:00

I don't know what it is, but for some reason I feel let down if I don't get to go hiking or do something outdoorsy for Memorial Day. To fulfill this need, we went to a park preserve that has a duck pond and a bunch of walking trails so that we could enjoy nature. Then it was home for naps (Shane and Molly) before going to the Diamondbacks baseball game. It really was a perfect day!

We had front row seats for duck watching!

One of Molly's new things- balancing on walls

My little helper! Helping Mommy cut out donuts

Weekend in San Francisco

2011-05-25T16:34:00.000-05:00

Shane had a work thing in San Francisco on Monday so we decided to go with him for a little weekend adventure. Molly has become quite the little traveler and feels right at home on a plane...she especially loves the little treats we pack (pretzels and marshmallows) and starts looking through the carry on as soon as we get to the airport to see what kind of surprises we have in store. Here she is with the pain au chocolat we grabbed for dinner. It was love at first bite. Poor Shane. I think he was expecting to get more than a bite or 2!

Molly was also introduced to sourdough bread, which she loved (or maybe she was just really hungry!) Shane and Molly got chili in a bread bowl from the popular Boudin Bakery. I enjoyed the gluten free snacks I'd brought from home. Don't feel sad that I missed out - we found a yummy bakery with gluten free cupcakes for me.

We stayed with James and Lindsey (Shane's sister) and loved spending time with them! We're hoping to go back again soon.

We took a ferry over to Alcatraz and did the tour there.

Very interesting!

Hanging around in one of the cells at Alcatraz.

Molly and Linds

Quiet Book: FINISHED!!! (with the option to add on...)

2011-05-18T18:22:00.000-05:00

Hooray! I may be the worlds slowest sticher, but that just makes every completed project that much more meaningful! Truth be told, I don't need a finished project to get excited. Every little accomplished step is a victory for me. Isn't this just about the cutest Quiet Book cover you've ever seen! I didn't have a pattern, but I knew I wanted handles, some kind of clasp and an inside pocket. It took way more time than it should have for me to figure it all out, but I did it and learned so much in the process. Hopefully all these new sewing skills will stick with me and make the next project go a bit quicker.

Here's how it looks open. I love the fabric!

I was completely mystified about how to connect the cover to the metal rings holding the pages together. I came upon the most brilliant idea online and I forgot to write down the site so I can't give proper credit. I sewed a piece of ribbon down the center of the inside of the book cover leaving gaps for the metal rings to slip under. Thanks to whoever came up with this genius idea!

I sewed a pocket to the inside back cover for paper and pen or to tuck in a little treat.

And here are the last 2 pages of the book, at least for now...

I'm in love with these little felt finger puppets. So cute and really not too difficult to sew!

This page pales in comparison to the barn, but is still a great page for learning in and out or on and off (you can stick your hand in the glove).

All buttoned up and ready to go

Here's my inspiration!

Molly and Me

2011-05-09T22:32:00.002-05:00

I love Mother's Day! For a lot of years Mother's Day was a really hard day for me...a celebration of my greatest desire, my desire to be a mother. Enter Molly and her sweet birth-mother Ana. They have blessed me with the most precious gift and highest calling of all. Motherhood. I celebrate this every day when I look into the eyes of my beautiful baby. I am a mother.

My little helper in the sewing room

Always ready with a smile

Can you see the mischievous spark in her eyes?

Mama's shoes

Spring Fun!

2011-05-02T23:22:00.000-05:00

Molly has decided that she is officially part of our dining scene. No more being buckled in (although she will sit in the booster seat...most of the time), no more cut up quesadillas (our lunch time staple), and "yes, please!" to any and all condiments whether she likes them or not! She cracks us up!

Her new favorite things is watching home videos on the computer and if ever she catches me sneaking off to check my email, she is right behind me to take custody of the keyboard. Today she watched a 1 minute clip of her grandparents 6 times in a row. As soon as it would finish she'd sign "more" and call out "Bampa" (Grandpa), making it hard to resist our little munchkin. She knows what she wants and is getting to be quite dramatic when she doesn't get her way. Luckily her crocodile tears can usually be consoled with a big hug!

Our church had a big Luau over the weekend. I'm wearing a muu-muu that my grandma wore as a missionary on the Hawaiian islands back in the 70's. I love it!

Shane had the 16-17 year old young men from church come over to our house and hear about his mission in Paris, France. We made crepes for them to eat and Molly fell head over heels in love with nutella.

Show us that nutella grin!

We had some leftover pudding from the Crepe Fest, so I let Molly try her hand at fingerpaintting.

It's delicious!

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T23:10:00.000-05:00

I hope you had a wonderful Easter! At church during Primary (Sunday school class for children ages 3-11) the most beautiful book was shared about a treasure hunt for the true meaning of Easter called Easter walk by Deborah Pace Rowley. The pictures and message are beautiful. It really touched me and is a book I want to share with my family not only on Easter, but throughout the year.

We had a quiet afternoon including naps and a silly photo shoot. It's hard being away from family on holidays and being new to the area we haven't yet found "family" to spend our holidays with when we can't be with our relatives. We were blessed to have that in Chicago and hope to find that in Arizona.

Molly loved the Mrs. Potato Head she got for Easter!

Cheese! Who's got the biggest grin?

Seriously, those eyes just make me melt!

Salt Lake Half Marathon

2011-04-18T22:44:00.000-05:00

We were in Salt Lake City, UT over the weekend to cheer on Shane, his sister and sister-in-law in the Salt Lake half marathon. We met them at the half way mark to cheer as they ran and again near the finish line. Great job Shane!

Here's Molly collecting an egg from a little Easter egg hunt at one of our family parties.

We love spending time with our families!!!

My sister had a baby last week and we had so much fun holding him. Molly was really sweet!

Quiet Book: A Few More Pages...

2011-04-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

There are still a few pages that I'm working on and I need to do a cover, but I wanted to get what I had put together so we can start using it. I'm really happy with how the quiet book is coming together and I've had fun practicing my sewing skills. Yeah for sewing!

Learn to tell time

Practice counting and phone etiquette

(Molly's favorite page so far)

Shapes, colors, and learning how to snap things together

Learning to lace and tie. I could have done a shoe for this

but since we're such big football fans a football was a much better fit!

Random Photos of the Week...

2011-04-12T17:36:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pictures of our sweet and active Molly from this week:

Molly's favorite new find? A plastic stool she can carry and climb on to investigate each of the kitchen drawer and find new treasures. The measuring spoons are a favorite!

I've been spending a lot of sewing during Molly's nap. When she wakes up she likes to see what I've been working on and play with the buttons and thread. And yes, she likes to taste the buttons before throwing them on the floor!

First job: Molly loves to help us empty the dishwasher. We have a pretty good system where she hands things to us so that we can put them away. She works really fast and if we don't keep up she drops dishes on the floor so that she can move on to the next dish.

El Tour de Mesa

2011-04-02T15:50:00.001-05:00

Shane rode in El Tour de Mesa, a 72 mile ride around the valley.

He rode hard and made his goal of finishing under 5 hours.

Great job Shane! We're proud of you!

Riding by as he's about to cross the finish line

Our hero with his medal

Wow! Check out Daddy's medal!

Lucky girl! Not only does she get to wear the medal,

she gets some of the neapolitan shake from in-n-out.

March 2011 Project: Quiet Book

2011-03-31T22:56:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the year I decided to choose one project every month to work on during Molly's nap. For January I chose to catch up on Molly's scrapbook, in February I made fun Mr. & Mrs. pillows for our bed and in March I started a quiet book for Molly.

Growing up we had a quiet book that my mom made and I've always planned to make one for my kids. I've been filing away ideas for years and Molly is at the right age to really enjoy something like this. The initial book will have 12 pages that are fun and will hopefully teach something. I'm making it so that I'll be able to add pages as Molly grows and is ready for more advanced quiet fun like braiding a girls hair and a tic-tac-toe page. These are my first 4 pages:

Molly loves airplanes so I had to include one in the book. It opens up so she can load and unload the suticases. This page doesn't really teach anything, but Molly likes to count the button windows, so we'll call it a counting page (1 airplane, 3 suitcases, 4 wheels, 5 buttons...)

This is big enough to tuck in a bag of fruit snack with the luggage.

The balloons have velcro on them so they can be removed and matched with the right color.

Flower Pot: Button the flowers onto their stems

Noah's ark: unzip the ark to find the animals

Please, Thank You and Amen!

2011-03-30T17:20:00.001-05:00

Here are few more words that Miss Molly has incorporated into her vocabulary. Maybe she's been using them for awhile, but it's taken us until this week to "get it". It's amazing to see the connections Molly makes between words, actions, and signs.

Amen = usually said after the prayer. At church on Sunday Molly figured out that it's also appropriate to say this after a talk (much to the amusement of the 3 teenage girls sitting behind us).

Please = Molly's starting to figure out that if she says "peas" I have a hard time saying no. It's just so cute and she uses her little hand to make a circle over her chest when she says it (we've taught her signs for a few words).

Thank you = "gank-oo" is especially cute when she says and signs it because it looks like she's blowing a kiss.

Chair = Can mean either chair or, if you're sitting, "I want to sit on your lap". This is often accompanied by Molly patting the chair or your leg. Speaking of chairs, Molly conquered the climbing of the kitchen chairs today. These were the only chairs in the house that she wasn't able to get on by herself. How long do I have before she uses the chairs to get on the table? Boy are we in trouble!!!

Molly and I made cupcakes this week. They were delicious!

Princess and the Pea

2011-03-25T12:04:00.000-05:00

Our sweet baby has a little cold and had trouble taking a nap yesterday so we cuddled up and watched Elmo on this fancy bed of pillows. She loved it!

Bag of Treasures

2011-03-21T13:23:00.003-05:00

The last few days Molly's been carrying around this bag. It's filled with everything from books to stuffed animals and cars to bracelets. All of her little treasures. Today she put the bag on her arm like a purse and said,"bye, bye" as she started to walk away. Halfway across the room she turned around said,"kisses" ran over and gave me a kiss before waving and walking away again.

My heart melted. I'm the one with the treasure!!!

We've started eating dinner outside this week. Molly loves it!

Super Moon. We drove out away from the city lights to get a good look at the super moon this weekend and we got clouds.
Oh well. It was still pretty!

Hello Sunshine!

2011-03-15T18:01:00.000-05:00

This 80 degree weather is really nice. We like to wake up and go walking before it's too hot (in my book) for exercising outside. Today after our walk I got Molly dressed for the day and she immediately said,"Go! shoes! Go! Shoes!" She loves being outside!

The other day Molly found this vest that Shane made in high school and she insisted on wearing it for the rest of the day. I love that it hooks at the top and looks like a cape. Super Molly!

18 Months Old!

2011-03-07T22:23:00.000-06:00

Little Miss Molly turned 18 months this week and has become quite the little chatterbox. She loves to be part of our conversations, talk on the phone, and read her books aloud to herself. Her favorite new word is airplane (a-play) and when she hears one flying by she points and runs for the nearest window repeating,"a-play, a-play".

Molly's favorite song is "once there was a snowman". She puts her hands up like this when she wants to sing it. She does all the actions including sinking to the ground when the snowman melts.

Molly loves shoes. Today when I went in to get her after her nap her legs were sticking out of the crib and she pointed at her shoes saying,"shoes, shoes". She wouldn't move until I put her new shoes on and then she tried to stand up and her feet were stuck. It was so funny!

Shane's parents came to visit for the weekend and we had so much fun with them. They are so cute with Molly playing with her toys, reading her stories and going for walks.

Her favorite thing was taking a book to Grandpa's room, getting on his bed and having him read the story over and over again. So sweet! Thanks for coming Grandma and Grandpa!

No, No, No...

2011-03-01T15:32:00.001-06:00

It's hard to imagine our sweet little girl has decided, practically overnight, that she loves to say no. This is how a typical conversation with Molly goes at our house these days:

Me: "should we play with the toys?"

Molly: "no"

"do you want to color?"

"no"

"Let's read a story."

"no"

"Do you want to go outside?"

"No. Shoes?" and she runs to find her shoes.

She cracks us up!

Shane and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this week. He surprised me with these beautiful roses that Molly helped him pick out. And I made these fun pillows for our bed.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Happy President's Day!

2011-02-21T16:31:00.000-06:00

We've had a fun filled week with Valentine's Day, decorating Molly's room and just spending time together as a family. Here are some picture highlights:

I've just about given up on headbands. They look so cute but never last more than 5 minutes...

Valentine's Dinner: homemade Heart Shaped gluten free pizza, red punch, red jello, purple salad dressing (raspberry vinaigrette), and for dessert...

gluten free sugar cookies (my recipe, of course!)

We always have a little decorating contest, and yes, Shane always wins! He's just so creative!!!

Yum!

Molly and I rearranged her room while Shane was out of town. She loves having the books within reach of her rocking chair!

Just hanging around

Molly loves to find new places to sit

Mommy's girl!

Happy Valentines Day babe!

2011-02-14T18:03:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to publicly wish my sweetheart a very special Valentines Day. She is a great woman, mother, wife and friend. Those of you who know her can agree, she is one great lady!
Now that we have little miss Molly in our lives, I have 2 great valentines! We love you!

Family Wedding

2011-02-07T14:18:00.000-06:00

When Shane joined us in Utah for the wedding, Molly and I had already been there for a week. We were so excited to see him! I saw his car pull into my parents driveway so I grabbed Molly and we opened the front door. When Molly saw Shane get out to of the car she let out a squeal of delight and held out her arms for Shane. It was the best welcome ever!

Our niece got baptized the same day as Sarah's wedding and we really wanted to attend both. It made for a busy morning: Salt Lake Temple for wedding at 9am, family pictures at 10am, baptism in Riverton (25 minute drive) at 11am and back up to Salt Lake for the wedding luncheon at noon (we were 5 minutes late). It was close, but we were able to fit it all in and stay awake with the help of a little diet mountain dew!!

Molly was giggling all night!

All of my brothers and sisters! I love my family!

17 Months Old

2011-02-07T14:01:00.001-06:00

We've been in Utah this week getting ready for my sister's wedding. Molly has been having so much fun with her cousins and wouldn't even let me take a picture of her alone. She didn't want to miss out on any of the action! Molly's vocabulary continues to expand. This week she started asking for her apple juice by name. I know I've shared some of these, but here are some of her favorite words and a translation key:

Apple Juice = a-choo

spoon = poon

moo = mmm

shoe = shoe

cheese = cheese

macaroni & cheese = mmm-cheese

train = choo choo

blankie = baba

cracker = crack crack

oatmeal = o-meal

egg = aaa

Weekend Project: Garage

2011-01-23T20:31:00.001-06:00

How nice to be able to play outside on a sunny January day in Arizona! Here's Molly playing on the rock slabs in our backyard. We (mostly Shane) took full advantage of the 70 degree weather on Saturday and organized our garage. It looks amazing and makes our house feel even more like a home now that the moving boxes in the garage are finally gone!

yeah!

All dressed up for church!

Cheese!

2011-01-17T14:42:00.001-06:00

Molly loves the camera and now gets upset if we don't let here see the picture right after it's taken. Her latest thing is to say "Cheese" and give the toothiest smile possible:

Cheese!

Molly and I have been working on organizing and setting up her playroom. I want to hang a shelf or two and some artwork but I'm pretty excited about how it's coming along. Molly loves spending time in there with all of her toys!

Molly's Playroom

The Kid or the Camera?

2011-01-17T14:22:00.000-06:00

Last week in the newspaper there was a picture of a kid kissing (licking) the snout of a pig. The caption read," Are you an experienced parent? You can tell how experienced a parent you are by whether you grab the child or grab the camera."

With that fresh in my mind I didn't give it a second thought when I heard Molly yelling and turned to see her stuck in the rocking chair. I grabbed the camera!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig...

2011-01-10T22:14:00.000-06:00

Here we are on the plane ride home after a fun filled 2 weeks visiting family over the holiday. Molly loves her cousins so much and wanted to play with the every minute she could. She's picking up new words almost daily "night, night", "egg", "baaa"(for sheep). We love watching her learn and grow. Today when it was time for her nap I said, "Molly, are you ready for your nap?" and she dropped her toy and headed for the stairs to her bedroom. She's given up her morning nap and is definitely ready to sleep after lunch!

Here are some highlights from our trip: So fun to be with family but so nice to be home!

A trip to the see the temple lights in Mesa the night before our flight

We played Just Dance 2 on the wii (so fun!!!) and Molly climbed up on this chair to dance along with us. It was so cute!

This girl's really got some moves!

We played a dress-up relay game with the kids and adults at our New Years Eve party. It was so funny!

The grand kids loved their pillow pets!

Now Molly has a "vacuum" just her size!

16 Months Old

2011-01-03T22:45:00.029-06:00

Our busy little sweetheart is 16 months old. She loves to climb and has conquered the kitchen chairs. No more leaving scissors, cameras, and cell phones on the table! Molly loves playing with her cousins and is friendly to everyone she meets. Her vocabulary continues to grow. Some of her favorites are cheese, juice, quack, crack (for cracker), teeth, ma ma, and da da. She loves books and often sits and pretends to read the story herself. What a little cutie!

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T11:07:00.000-06:00

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Molly was so excited to finally get to open the presents. It was fun to watch her eyes light up after each surprise.

Opening a gift

Hurray!

Trying to sit in Dolly's stroller

Little Birds

2010-12-20T09:37:00.000-06:00

Molly's sheet has little birds on it and this morning when I went into her room she was lying on her stomach pointing at them and saying "twee", twee". How cute is that!

Happy Birthday A Day Late...

2010-12-14T16:39:00.000-06:00

Our internet was down all day yesterday so I didn't get the chance to wish my wonderful and handsome husband a happy birthday in a somewhat public manner...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANE!!

I love you!!!

Molly love you!!!

P.O.M.

xoxo

15 Months Old

2010-12-06T14:28:00.001-06:00

Our little one is 15 months old and more independent than ever! Her newest trick is climbing into and onto whatever she can, it's pretty cute! She likes to carry the step stool into the middle of the room, climb onto it, and then give a speech full of lots of gibberish, smiles and giggles. I wish I knew what she was saying!

Sitting in a storage cube

She even climbed into this shelf that Shane was putting together

November 2010

2010-11-29T16:33:00.001-06:00

You might be thinking that we've given up on our blog. Not True. We've had major issues with our camera and ultimately had to send it away to that place where cameras go after they have given there all and captured as many memories as possible. Farewell dear friend... you have served us well.

Because it was so close to black Friday when this great loss occurred we decided to wait it out and get ourselves a deal on a new camera. Which we did. Happy day! Now here's a recap of the part of November that we were able to get on film.

We took a little road trip up to Utah to drop Molly off with our fabulous parents so that we could go on a 7 day cruise. Molly had a blast playing with her cousins and spending time with her grandparents. Shane and I missed Molly like crazy but were still able to have a marvelous time on our cruise!

24 hour self serve ice cream machine. Need I say more? (yes, that's 3 cones)

Formal night on the cruise. I can still taste the chocolate melting cake, mmm...

Ancient Ruins at Tulum in Cozumel

(And then the camera died so no more cruise pictures)

While we were in Utah Molly got to open a few Christmas gifts. I love her technique of standing on the gift so that she can really get in there and rip off the wrapping paper!

Another little gift. Her very own ruby slippers!

The BYU Crew!

I was wearing my NAVY shirt so I was dubbed photographer during the BYU vs Utah game

Our little cheerleaders had naptime during the game. I bet that's why BYU lost

So sweet!

Molly loves grandma and grandpa's rocking horse!

GOOOOOOOOOOO COUGARS!!!!

2010-11-24T12:18:00.003-06:00

Molly and I have been practicing our "cheerleading" moves in preparation for the BYU vs. Utah football game this coming Saturday. GOOOOOOOO COUGARS!!!

"Look Mom, No Hands!"

2010-11-09T00:58:00.000-06:00

I had my back to Molly and turned around to find her climbing onto this plastic box. My heart skipped a beat when I thought of her slipping and hitting her head on the tile floor, but she was just so proud of herself I had to run for my camera instead of snatching her off.

"Look Mom!"

Shane's Dad was here for a few days helping with some projects around the house. Great job on the pictures boys!

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-10-31T22:36:00.000-05:00

Our little cheerleader! We had a neighborhood Halloween party last night at the park (yes, it's warm enough to hang out at the park). Molly had a blast watching all the kids and being in the kids parade, but the big bowl of strawberry ice cream she got was the highlight!

Love the ponytail!

Self Feeding: An Experiment of Patience and Humor

2010-10-29T16:26:00.000-05:00

Molly is so determined to feed herself these days and she does a pretty good job. Yogurt is one of the few foods that I've kept in the "mom's going to feed you this 'cuz it's so messy" category. Today after several failed attempts by me to get the yogurt into Molly's mouth before she grabbed the spoon away from me, I decided it was time for her to give it a try.

She tried with the spoon. She tried with each of her hands. She even tried to drink, slurp, and use her tongue to get the yogurt out of the container. She got about half of the yogurt into her cute belly. And the other half? I've heard it makes a nice moisturizer!

So Sweet...

2010-10-24T12:58:00.000-05:00

Doesn't she just melt your heart? This little one is such a blessing in our lives! Molly's been our little helper this week as we've been unpacking boxes and trying to make our house in AZ a home. She follows us around the house mimicking our actions. If I pull something out of the cupboard, then she pulls something out. If I wash off the table she wants the wash cloth so that she can wash the table too. It's so cute!

She's learned a couple new tricks this week, the biggie being the stairs. Molly's been a great little stair climber for a few months but hasn't mastered coming down by herself. This week we've been practicing every time we go down the stairs and after a few days she's got it. She thinks it's so funny to slide down the stairs on her tummy and giggles the whole way down.

Another cute thing she does is blowing on the stove whenever I put a pan on the burner. Even if she's across the room, when she sees the pan on the stove she starts blowing.

Moving Out and Moving In

2010-10-23T22:44:00.000-05:00

It's official! All loaded up (including our cars) and ready to make our move out West. Arizona, here we come!

After a week of hotel living we are eager to get into our home


As we were unpacking the kitchen Shane asked,"do we really need all these dishes!" Of course not, silly. But I WANT to keep them ALL!

More boxes to unpack...

Our Little Helper! Molly was all to eager to get her hands on the screwdriver after watching Shane's handyman skills in action!

After a week of unpacking (our stuff arrived in Arizona on Monday) I'm happy to report that I have uncovered the kitchen counters and table. Hooray for small victories!

Oh that I could go yet stay...

2010-10-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

Oh that I could go yet stay;

have tomorrow, keep today;

treasure hold my yesterday.

My yesterday now treasured dear;

was once tomorrow seen with fear.

I heard this poem in the MTC and wrote it in my scriptures. It was a fitting description of my feelings as I left the MTC and I find it fitting today as we look toward moving to Arizona yet long to take our dear friends in Illinois with us on our journey. Our lives have been touched by so many since moving to Illinois and we are sad to say goodbye. Sweet little Molly has created a bond between us and our ward that will always hold a special place in our hearts. It was fun to watch her tonight at our farewell open house as she "worked the room" sharing her smile and showing off her tricks to everyone. By the time we got home she was tuckered out and ready for her blankey.

I didn't get a post up last week. We were in Utah over the weekend and had fun visiting with cousins and grandparents. Molly fell in love with the little rocking chair that was just her size!

Uh Oh!

2010-09-27T14:46:00.001-05:00

Yesterday during church Molly dropped her toy then looked at me and said,"uh oh!" As soon as I picked it up she did it again. She's continued our new little game today with her raisins, muffin, and binky. I should probably use this game to dropped the pacifier into the garbage and say,"uh oh" and "bye bye". I just can't help but wonder if I'm ready to take on a teething baby at 3am without any ammo!

Precious Girl

2010-09-19T20:09:00.000-05:00

Our sweet little Molly has given up crawling this week. She loves being on her own two feet and is finding all sorts of new toys at eye level.

I'm finding it harder to get Molly to pose (the camera is far too enticing) so I've got to take advantage of every shot she gives me!

Even though the cougars are struggling on the football field, we do our part to support and cheer them on. Luckily we've got another favorite team that's showing us some love. Go NAVY! (We have shirts for them too!)

Sept 12th Sunday Shot

2010-09-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

Molly is growing up so fast, and she is walking full speed ahead through out our house. After church we set her down in the gym and she really found her wind. Having such a big room to roam in, she loved marching around. We also apologize to our fellow ward members for the high pitched squeal in sacrament meeting today...we are still working on our "quiet voice".

Sunday Shot - 1 year

2010-09-10T13:16:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe we've been doing "Sunday Shots" for a year! Molly now walks as much as she crawls, loves scrambled eggs, drinks whole milk from a sippy cup and says,"ooo! ooo!" when she sees a dog. Today when she woke from her nap she called out,"Mama!" And when she peed on the bathroom floor as I was about to put her in the tub I couldn't help laughing and thinking how blessed I am not only be a mom, but to be sweet little Molly's Mama! I look forward to a lot more firsts in this next year of Molly's life!

Birthday Fun!

2010-09-10T13:14:00.000-05:00

Molly had such a fun birthday! We started off the day opening some presents, which took quite awhile since she wanted to play with what she opened instead of opening more presents. After Molly's nap we went to the zoo and then we got together with some friends for a birthday celebration. It was the perfect day!

I had so much fun planning and decorating Molly's cakes for her party!

Molly tried to grab the flame on the candle

while we were singing to her.

mmmm...cake! YUM!

playing with her new toys

Daddy and his birthday girl!

Taking a break from opening presents to read a story!

Happy Birthday little one! We love you!

Happy 1st Birthday Molly!

2010-09-03T15:10:00.000-05:00

We love you!

xoxoxo

This is Our Normal...

2010-08-31T14:54:00.000-05:00

Our Family Room Before We Go To Bed:

Our Family Room When Molly Wakes Up:

I Love Normal!

Hope You're all having a Normal day!

52 Weeks Old!

2010-08-30T22:23:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since our sweet little Molly arrive. Last year at this time we were in Missouri waiting for the birth of our precious girl (who was due on the 31st but delayed her appearance 3 extra days!) She's such an amazing little girl, so full of life! You'll have to excuse the extra sap and emotion...I've spent the last few days looking back at this year with Molly and feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

Molly's getting pretty confident on her feet. She spends a lot of time standing and will usually take a few steps, squat down, stand back up and start the process again. When she needs to get somewhere fast she still crawls.

Who knew that a pair of flip flops could be so fascinating? Molly continues to be curious about everything and loves to figure out how things work. We have a little sound spa tucked into a stuffed animal that we have velcroed to her crib (sleep sheep). Toward the end of Molly's nap on Friday I heard a big thump from her room so I ran upstairs to make sure she was okay. She was standing in her crib with a big grin on her face. I looked around to see what had caused the noise and saw the sound spa on the floor. The sheep was still velcroed to the crib, but she'd figured out how to get the sound machine out. Now when she wakes up from her nap she takes the sound spa out of the stuffed animal and has figured out how to press the buttons to change the ocean sound to the rain or whale sound. A few times I've walked by her room and discovered she was awake only because I could hear the sound spa making a different sound from what I'd set it to. Clever girl!

Standing on My Own Two Feet...

2010-08-23T21:54:00.000-05:00

One of Molly's favorite new tricks: playing with her toys while standing - all by herself- and even taking a few steps. Our little baby is growing up!

3 Weeks 'til my Birthday!

2010-08-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

Just when we started to settle in after our vacation, Molly and I caught a virus and spent the bulk of the week in bed. So much for my fun filled birthday weekend. Last night we were both feeling much better and even got a few laughs from our little princess!


Put on a happy face!

It's no fun to get your picture taken when you're not feeling well, but I didn't want my birthday to go by without getting at least one picture. We bought gluten free cupcakes from Whole Foods and put our smiles on. (Molly loved the candle!) Shane was a real trooper taking care of two whiny girls all weekend. He deserves a medal!

Sunday Shot - 11 months old

2010-08-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

We're back in town after spending the past 5 weeks out West. We had so much fun being with family! Molly was so cute posing for this "Sunday shot" that I'm posting several pictures. Hope that will suffice until I get caught up!

What a tease!

Silly Face!

Yeah!

Toast and Jam

2010-07-28T17:24:00.004-05:00

Molly enjoys eating all sorts of foods and discovering new tastes. While in Utah at my parents house, Molly discovered my Mom's Homemade Strawberry Jam. Thes pictures are not unlike how I usually look after I have some toast and jam. Like Father, like Daughter. I'm sure we'll have many more toast and jam moments for years to come.

Family Fun

2010-07-26T15:34:00.000-05:00

A trip out to Utah to visit family has put me a little behind. Here's a little snapshot of our fun filled July. I'll try to get more pictures up later in the week.

Molly loves the water! This was her first time in a swimming pool and she had a blast!

We love playing with cousins!

Shane had a work conference in Lake Tahoe so we left Molly with my parents for a couple of days and I went with him. So beautiful!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T15:43:00.002-05:00

Molly turned 10 months old yesterday. She is always on the move and is starting to stand without holding on to anything. She loves to walk around holding on to the furniture or anything else she can get her hands on. She'll be taking her first steps before we know it! Molly's got 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on the bottom) and a mean bite! Her new favorites include grapes and yogurt and she gets frustrated if we try to end story time before she's ready.

What a sweetheart!

Happy Little Family!

2010-06-29T20:57:00.001-05:00

42 Weeks Old

2010-06-28T14:16:00.000-05:00

Pretty as a picture!

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T20:50:00.002-05:00

Molly and Daddy. Shane has a terrible cold so we let him sleep the morning away. Not fun to be feeling sick on your first Father's Day as a dad! He stayed home from church and swears the US Open had nothing to do with it. Hmmm...

All dressed up and ready for church

Molly loves to be on her feet and can balance in the middle of the room for about 10 seconds before she starts to wobble. She's walking along the furniture and trying to climb the stairs. She just wants to be up all the time so that she can see what's going on! Pretty soon our baby's going to be walking.

40 weeks old

2010-06-14T13:12:00.003-05:00

Molly is constantly on the move these days. She wouldn't even hold still for a minute to take this picture - she needed to crawl to the camera to investigate! It's amazing how fast she grows and changes! Just last Sunday she looked like a little vampire (although we noticed her top incisors were barely starting to peek through). Fast forward 7 days and her 4 top teeth are all about the same size - so much for that Team Edward shirt I was going to make for her!

We Drove up to Madison, Wisconsin this weekend so that Shane could participate in a big bike ride - The Trek 100. He and his buddies rode 100 miles in just under 7 hours. They all wore these cool "kits" (shorts and jerseys) from Auto Trader and they looked awesome! Shane's been training a lot for this and it was so fun to be there at the finish line when he completed his ride! 100 miles is a pretty big deal in my book!

Shane and Molly after the ride. Great job Sweetie!

We are a happy fam-i-ly!

The Wisconsin State Capitol. They have an amazing Farmers market!!

uh-oh...Molly discovered the stairs this week.

I caught her starting to climb them.

Time for the gate to come out!

Cereal Puffs...

2010-06-07T16:38:00.004-05:00

Molly loves the little baby cereal puffs so much that she wouldn't put the container down when I tried to take her Sunday Shot. I turned my back for just a minute and this is what I found:

"Yes! I got them open! Eat them quick before Mommy comes back!"

"Uh oh! I've been caught!"

"Time to make my getaway!"

Things we've learned from our 9 Month Old:

2010-06-03T15:35:00.011-05:00

Everything must be taste tested:

sunglasses, fingers, toys, & toes;
she's even bitten Daddy's nose!

Biter biscuits make better drums than food.

If it can be opened, it must be explored.

Folding the laundry is a fun group activity.

(You fold and I'll stand up and pull the clothes off the couch!)

Expensive things make fun toys!

If you watch Sports Center you'll have Daddy
wrapped around your finger for all time!

Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-31T09:01:00.003-05:00

We're celebrating with Pig Tails! Seriously, could our little sweetie get any cuter!

If you look closely, you can see Molly's two little bottom teeth. She's got two more coming in on top! Molly is really cruising now - she crawls all over the place invesitgating everything! Her favorite find? The door stopper (is that what they're called? The little springgy thing behind a door that stops it from hitting the wall.) She loves to pull on the stopper and let it go! Shane child proofed our cupboard doors and they're driving me crazy! I suppose I'll be conditioned to look for the latch eventually, but until then...AAARRGHH!!!

Springfield Surprise

2010-05-26T18:44:00.003-05:00

We love surprises! Shane's brother just moved from Missouri to Ohio and Shane's parents flew out to help with the move. Since they'd be driving through Illinois to get to their new home, Shane and I devised a super secret plan to meet them when they stopped for lunch and surprise Jill and Lonny (Shane's parents). We let Todd and Tam in on our mission so that everything would go smoothly.

Here we are in Chipotle...Jill and Lonny are still trying to grasp running into us 3 hours from our home. It was awesome! We got there a few minutes before them and sat at a table to wait. They walked in and didn't notice us until Shane waved. Lonny didn't see at first, but we thought Jill was going into shock. She just stood staring at us without saying a word for about a minute and then the waterworks began. By that time we'd gotten Lonny's attention and a similar reaction. It was so fun!
We loved seeing everyone, even though it was for a short time. Thanks Todd and Tam for taking time out of your long drive to let us visit!

Crawling, Cutting teeth and Clapping, Oh My!

2010-05-23T18:20:00.003-05:00

Molly's been busy this week! She officially has two teeth, can crawl across the room (Friday she was only doing 2 small steps forward before falling onto her tummy), and yesterday she started clapping. Here are some cute pictures of her moving across the floor. She's pretty proud of herself!

Maryland

2010-05-17T14:34:00.005-05:00

This past week Shane attended a training in Maryland, not far from my brothers house, so Molly and I went with him to spend time with family. It just so happened that my brother was out of town too, so it was nice to have some company! We had a pretty laid back week going for walks, attending my niece and nephews lacrosse games and visiting the National Zoo in D.C. We partied it up on the weekend with a crepe fest, Lego rock band and an ice cream bar! All in all a wonderful week! Here's Molly on her first trip to the zoo.

It's not often that the lion's are awake and roaming. This guy is so beautiful!

Molly had so much fun playing with her cousins! She can now crawl backwards (we're still working on going forward) and her first little tooth is starting to come in.

Love the crepe fest!

8 Months Old

2010-05-09T19:20:00.003-05:00

Molly turned 8 months old this week. She is such a happy little baby! She's still not crawling, but oh so close! Today I had her sitting on the floor by the tub while I was getting the water ready. She put her hands on the side of the tub and pulled herself up to her knees. That's the first time she's pulled herself up...before we know it she'll be walking along the furniture! She loves to roll all over the room and is pretty good at doing yoga poses with me when I exercise!

Happy Mother's Day!

Our little munchkin has a pretty good head of hair.
Here's her first little ponytail!

It's movie time...which one should we watch first?

34 Weeks and Growing!

2010-05-04T12:28:00.005-05:00

I know that I'm a couple days late getting these posted...it seems that between feedings, naps, and showing our house, my computer time is a little hit and miss. I wouldn't change it for anything! (except the house selling thing...all those showings stress me out a bit!)

It seems that Molly gets cuter every day! I had so much fun taking her Sunday shot that I couldn't decide on just one to post. I love this one with her little tongue sticking out!

Molly is rolling across the floor and scooting around a bit. When she sees something she wants, she goes after it! She's started getting up on her hands and knees this week, but no crawling yet. She usually doesn't move very much when she sleeps, but last night when I checked on her an hour after she went to bed, Molly had turned herself around so that her feet were where her head had been and her head was at the foot of the crib. So cute! We just love watching her grow into this beautiful curious active baby!

This is one of Molly's favorite toys (and on of our favorite pictures!) These stacking rings are timeless - we had one when I was growing up too!

33 Weeks Old

2010-04-25T18:16:00.002-05:00

Our little girl is going mobile! This week Molly has successful rolled herself across the length of our family room and is figuring out that those cute little squares on the walls with cords coming out (outlets and plugs) aren't as far out of reach as she once imagined. I guess a trip to the store for some baby-proofing supplies needs to be moved to the top of our "to do" list!

A little bit of catch up...

2010-04-20T10:08:00.007-05:00

Sunday April 18th 32 weeks old

Honestly I don't know where the last 10 days have gone...I had every intention of getting these pictures from our trip posted last week. Along with all the other catch up I was doing, we had computer problems, so maybe I'll just blame the delay on technology! Here are some of the highlights of our trip out west:

Molly and I drove up to Alberta Canada with my parents to spend Easter with my sister's family but mostly to see baby Nixon who as born 4 hours before we arrived.

Big girl in the stroller! This was the first time we used the stroller without the car seat. Molly loved being able to see so many things on our walk.

Anything you can do I can do better. Kyle and Molly sticking their tongues out at each other.

Happy Easter! Molly is 7 months old!

Playing with Lindsey. We had so much fun with our family!

Molly & Charly BFF's

Chillin' on the plane. Our friends were on the flight with us out to Utah. So Fun!

Family Pyramid after a competitize game of miniature golf.

Molly's first time golfing. She loved it!

31 weeks old!

2010-04-11T18:03:00.002-05:00

We've been out of town so I'm a bit behind on my posts...one of my intentions for the week (along with giving the house a good dusting and vacuuming!), is posting about our trip to Utah and Canada. Happy Spring!

Our Eternal Family

2010-03-29T23:13:00.002-05:00

Saturday March 27, 2010 our sweet Molly was sealed to us in the Jordan River Temple. Words can't describe how wonderful it was to be in the temple as a family. We are so grateful for the sealing power so that we can be a forever family.

Our little family in front of the temple

I love this picture of Molly!

Molly's Blessing Day

2010-03-22T10:53:00.002-05:00

With the finalization of Molly's adoption complete, we were able to have Molly blessed yesterday at church. Shane gave her a such a sweet blessing and Molly looked absolutely beautiful in her white dress. We were so happy to have some of our family here with us. Thanks Ana and Todd & Tam for traveling to be with us this weekend!

Posing with our angel!

Molly is such a happy baby!

I get lost in those beautiful brown eyes!

We love having family visit!

Bedtime Stories...

2010-03-19T21:03:00.004-05:00

One of our favorite parts of our bedtime routine is story time.
Tonight we found out it's even more fun with cousins!
Thanks "Story Teller Shane"!

Road Trip to Finalization...

2010-03-15T10:45:00.005-05:00

This weekend we took a road trip to Kansas City to finalize Molly's adoption. Here we are in front of the courthouse after the hearing. Everything went great and we can officially take Molly to the temple to be sealed to us!

We love road trips! One of our favorite things is to check out small town treasures that we find advertised on billboards along the way. This soft serve ice cream was a true find at a little diner touting 25 different flavors of soft serve ice cream. I got lemon and Shane chose raspberry. Yum!

Molly was a champ in her car seat for the 8 hour drive! We planned our drive so that she could get her morning and afternoon naps while we did the bulk of the driving and took breaks when she woke up so that she could stretch. She did great!

Ready for a good nights sleep in the hotels playpen!

We loved the time we got to spend with Ana while we were in town!

Hanging out with Ana and Doug

On our way back to Chicago we stopped at Todd and Tam's for the night. Preslee was excited to show us how she rides her new bike in the garage. Shane wanted a piece of the action!

Our Sunday shot for the week! It's so fun to have cousins!

Sunday - 6 Months Old

2010-03-07T20:58:00.001-06:00

6 Months Old

2010-03-04T11:24:00.004-06:00

Molly's still a little wobbly, but she loves to sit up!

Now that Molly's reached the 6 month milestone, it's like a switch has flipped inside her head as she realizes how much she can do and what her likes and dislikes are. She LIKES standing, sitting (still a bit wobbly), toys, tummy time, books, bathes, and her binky. Her dislikes are few, but include not being able to see us or when we're not looking at her (she squawks to get our attention), rice cereal and waking up in the middle of the night.

Molly is curious about everything and loves to investigate with her fingers and mouth. Her most recent discovery: Daddy's glasses. She wants to be involved in everything we do whether it's cooking, talking on the phone, using the computer or exercising and she gets frustrated if we have to put her down to do something and she's no longer able to see what's going on or participate (for example taking something out of the oven).

Molly laughs when we make funny noises or faces and tries to copy our expressions. Her newest trick: scrunching her nose, flaring her nostrils and breathing in and out of her nose as fast as she can. She cracks herself up when she does it. It's so funny! We love being parents and love our beautiful Molly so much!

Cereal...

2010-03-03T13:51:00.001-06:00

A pictures worth a thousand words!
Molly 6 months old

Oh, You Beautiful Doll!

2010-02-28T19:32:00.002-06:00

26 Weeks Old!

9 years of marriage...

2010-02-23T10:11:00.004-06:00

February 23, 2001
LOVE
friendship
Laughter
understanding
Joy
equality
Happiness

Happy Anniversary to the amazing man I share my forever with!
I love you!

25 weeks old...

2010-02-21T11:32:00.001-06:00

What a joy!