ANGI TURNS ONE!!!

Angeli turned One! I cant believe she is already one. It has gone so fast. She is such a sweet sweet baby. She is always so patient, and loving. She adds so much to our little family. Wherever we go out people are always impressed with what a good baby she is. She is a little timid and so we love watching her blush and act shy when her "boy friends" flirt with her. Her and Bridger are becoming such good friends. It is so fun to watch them playing together. Bridger gets down and crawls around playing chase and gives her LOTS of hugs and kisses.

She had her one year appointment the other day and she is in the 60% for height and under 5% for weight. Besides being a skinny little girl she got an A+ from the doctor.

Here is a video of her first year...

Today we threw her birthday party. We had a lot of fun. Here are some snap shots from today...

First we did some finger paintings with an assortment of puddings. We had a lot of fun getting messy, being artistic, and eating some sweet goodness.

After playing and eating dinner it was present time. Angeli got a "little Super Star" toy that she can play all sorts of instruments with while looking into the mirror and singing along. I think we'll have a lot of fun with this one.



After playing with Angi's new toy we dug into her birthday cake.

Another one of my humble creations! :o)

She had a lot of fun getting messy again and eating more sweets!

Take that Winter Blues!!!

I have had a little case of the winter blues. I seem to get them every winter ever since I left Southern California and actually have experienced winter, but it seems worse this year. The past two winters I have had a new baby to invest all my energy into and be excited about, but this year there isn't a major life altering event to distract me from the long long winterness that is January and February. However, I had a break through in my fight against the winter blues these past few days that I thought I should share in case someone out there is like me and needs a little pick-me-up. It has two parts to it.

Here it goes: So, I have decided to be a stay at home mom and that means I better be happy with what that means - - - It means I stay at home a lot! Novel, I know, but still this hit me as rather a break through. I shouldn't be hating and fighting the fact that I am at home quite a lot but rather just go with it, and except it. I have to give myself permission to not have to be dreaming up places to go to just so I can be going. And it has actually worked, I am glad I am at home right now and not racing about with tired hungry babies and deadlines and appointments but rather sitting at my computer typing away saving myself gas money.

The second part of my victory over winter is thus- I can pretend it is summer! I know that sounds so lame but it has been working for me. I knew that if I wasn't feeling happy I should change things in my life but for some reason thinking about changing my life seemed so hard and un-doable but thinking about pretending its summer seemed like a game that I could very easily do. It seemed so much easier, that all I had to do is simply brighten my wintery days. I have started to cook summerish foods. I have been turning on all the lights in my house. For inspiration I watched our home videos from this summer. I realized I seemed to wake up earlier, always have music going, go running a lot, do lots of play groups, swimming, and playing. I was surprised to find that it really is a laid back time like my winter seems to be just with a little jolt of sunshine. So I am starting a play group in my ward, we went swimming the other day for Bridger's birthday, the radio is currently on, and I have been crawling on the floor with the kids more this past week then I have since I was a baby. So if you need a little change to get through these last months of winter then maybe you can pop in your summer home videos, throw on your swim suit in the shower while you blast your favorite jams on your stereo and you'll be smiling all the way through February!

Happy Birthday Bridger!

My Baby Boy is growing up! In some ways its so weird that he is already two but at the same time it is hard to believe we have only had him that long because we cant imagine life without him. For his Birthday we threw a very low key party, here are the highlights...





First we went swimming at our community's in-door pool. Even though it was indoors our favorite was still the hot tub!

After Swimming we had pizza and other assorted treats I thought Bridger might like, which in true 2-year-old fashion, he didn't even touch. After the adults ate by we had Cake and Ice Cream, which of course, Bridger gorged himself on.


Here is the cake I decorated. If you can't tell its a "Choo Choo". :) My mom always went all out and decorated our cakes growing up so I decided I would carry on the tradition - my mom's looked a million times better! But Bridger could tell what it was so I figured that was good
enough.

Here's my birthday boy who found his way to seconds!

After cake Bridger opened presents and I think he scored! He loves his very cool "shake and go" car his friend Carson got him and the train set his mommy and daddy hooked him up with. :)

Here's my cross dressing Angeli helping her mommy clean up the party decorations!

We all had a great time and are excited to see our little man growing up so fast! We are sure glad he is ours.

Check Out This Blog!

My sister found this family on some BYU alumni publication and found their blog. Check out their blog it is so crazy. They are sooooooo blessed and sooooo inspirational; but I am glad its them and not me! :) http://wilkinsonquints.blogspot.com/

Rainbow Bend Has Voted!

A Humm...I'd like to announce that the Rainbow Bend community has voted and elects as their Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney! I was afraid I'd be the only one voting for Romney but not so. Mitt Romney got 17 votes, Huckabee got 9, McCain got 2, and I think that was it. That actually is a pretty good turn out for our little community. :o) I am especially glad I wasn't the only one voting for Romney because each group of supporters had to give a speech on why they like their candidate and it would have been a bit scary if that got stuck with me. The caucus experience was surprisingly fun. Basically it was me showing up late with two babies and a bunch of 50+ year olds in a tiny school gym/lunchroom/playground/classroom. Even Bridger had fun because he got to play with all the balls and also got to pound out a few keys on the piano. We got some annoyed looks at that one. In the end I left feeling like a very responsible member of our democracy! So yeah for my guy winning in my little neighborhood and yeah for me that I actually made it there!!!

So who's getting your vote?

Finally The End is in Sight!

I have gotten a lot of calls and emails wondering how Angeli is doing so I thought I would blog it and let you all know. Yesterday was terrible. We were rejected from three different places trying to get Angeli seen and wasted our entire evening driving around with two tried hungry babies in the process. We were just so worried. She lost about two pounds, her eyes were sunken, she had diarrhea diapers seven times, wouldn't drink or eat hardly anything, was totally lethargic, and her mouth was getting really dry. I planned on taking her to the ER as a last resort, but then we decided to call a free nurse hot line. After a series of question like: dose she have tears? -- well, yes but she'll only have one or two, Is her mouth dry - - - well, its moist but hardly, Has she had eight messy diapers in eight hours - - - well seven... we felt no more sure of what to do. They just said to keep giving her fluids and starches and if we felt it was serious to take her in. That was annoying, we were calling to find out if it was serious! Anyways, we felt basically that she was bad but I guess not bad enough to rush to the ER. So we thought we'd gage her in the morning. This morning just as I was about to load us up to head to the ER she drooled on me a drop of drool!!! I was so excited. Then I checked her diaper and it was wet! I let her rest watching TV and when I turned around to check on her I realized she had crawled over to her favorite toy and was jabbering and playing with it. I was thrilled, it has been awhile since she's been well enough to do anything like that. She is still needing lots of rest having two extra naps and extra holding but she has only pooped once today. We are so relieved! Right now she is coloring and laughing with Bridger! Oh, that is so good to see.

Also, I wanted to ask; If your son tells you every time he pees or "I wen poop poop" and insist on getting his diaper changed right away or else he'll try to do it himself dose that mean he is ready for more potty training? When I ask if he wants to sit on the toilet he says, "no. no. no." hummm... let me know what you think.

My Life These Days...

Life has been fun because I have been able to spend a lot of down time with the kids but a bit challenging too. My Sweet Little Angeli is still sick and we are getting worried for her because she seems to be getting worse and not better. I tried to take her to the doctors today but they can't fit her in because she still has her first visit to do there and they said they don't have an openings for that long of an appointment. Annoying huh!?!?!??! Yesterday she napped from 11am to 5pm; when I finally realized how long she had been sleeping I woke her up. A couple hours later she was so tired I laid her on my tummy for a second while we did family scripture study and when I looked up at her she was already asleep. But since I can't take her in to the doctors until the 25th we are justing worrying over her and hoping it passes soon. Stew gave her a blessing last night so that has been comforting. I guess I can just hope she is better by her first birthday next week.


My little man is just that, a little man. This week he has mastered opening round knob door handles!!! Which is bad news for me and my sanity but still fun to see him learning new things. Today he learned how to lock the doors too and actually locked me out of the house. That was fun. :o) He is a little OCD when it comes to things being out of their place and wanting things clean. Today we went for a short "truck ride" on his little truck he got for Christmas and he had to stop at every rock and place it in his truck's scooper. It made a short walk seem a bit long. :) He has been picking up more words too. So far today he has learned how to say "cool" which is really cute. He is a ever more avid artist and loves to draw!!! His Time Out chair is no longer brown but now it is a lovely shade of every crayon we own! I am just so thankful for the magic eraser. This Week he turns TWO so crazy!!!


But my happiest news is that Mom Rasmussen is coming out next month to help me by watching the kids so I can get my business going again!!! She is such an Angel for coming!!! And Dad, Whitney, and Liz are so great for sharing her with us! I have been unable to do much of anything for my business with the kids being sick and just their normal stuff makes it so hard too. I have been about to go crazy with the stress of all I need to do but how I seem to always be stuck at home and not able to do any of it. When it comes down to it we NEED to get more income or come June we will be without a cent to our name and thus I need more customers! I have been wishing since we moved here that I was like so many other young mom's I know who have family close by that they can count on even when their kids are sick to help out. My ward has been great but when the kids are sick you cant very well ask them to take a hit to help you out and wind up getting their kids sick. So the other day as I was wishing for it with all my being (OK I know that sounds dramatic but it is the honest truth) it hit me, I need mom Ras to come! I called and asked her and she was actually excited to hear that I wanted her to come and take over watching the kids for a few days. She is so kind, she even acted like I was doing her a favor! She is always so true to her sweet nature. :o) We are so excited!!! Thank you Mom you have lifted such a burden for me! This really means so much to us! It all seems doable now! We Love you!

Admitting I am a Foodie!

I have started a recipe blog! I have been toying with the idea for awhile now and finally had a strong enough desire to share my secret of making yummy mac and cheese that it drove me to it today. And with that I guess I have to realize that if I am going to start a blog on food then I am a true foodie, perhaps not a very refined one, but non-the-less, a Foodie.

As a kid one of my favorite games was pretending I had my own cooking show. I guess this is the closest I will ever get to the real thing so I might as well make the most of it. So here is my invitation to all foodies, people who enjoy eating, or people who just happen to like me enough to humor my love of food to check out my new blog. Its: emsfavfood.blogspot.com. Its also with my links on the side as "my recipe blog". I hope its fun to check out and gives you a few cooking ideas!

I love Being a Mommy

Lately I just can't seem to get enough of my kids. I have even noticed I have been putting off their nap time so I can just keep being with them. They make my world go round and I think the world of them. They make everything fun for me- even Walmart! At Walmart I discus in great detail the products I am looking for and what brand I like best and what we will be cooking tonight and they smile back at me and point at every cookie and balloon they can find... When I make them laugh or when my Little Man plops himself on my lap and gives me a very moist kiss I am in heaven. When Angeli shyly giggles with excitement when I enter her room after her nap and then squeals with delight as I lift her I feel like I could hold her forever. All I know is that I always want to be my babies mommy and I am so grateful they want me to be their mommy too.

A Sweet Little Poem for Mommies...

My Mommy Cuddles Me

My mommy cuddles me

kisses me, hugs me and misses me,

pampers me, praises me,

always amazes me,
washes my clothes for me,

tickles my toes for me,

giggles and talks with me,

and also goes on walks with me,

says "sweet dreams" to me,

sings sweet songs to me,

I am glad she belongs to me.

~Author Unknown~

More of my Theoretic Rambling: Enduring to the End

I took a Religion class at BYU that really changed the way I looked at the world concerning "enduring to the end". Here is the preface... I came into this world with a very dramatic outlook. I really think I was born with a testimony and my family can tell you story after story of how my dramatic-faithful side was displayed throughout my childhood. Due to my dramatic "Righteous" disposition to be a religious "standard for truth" I was happy to find myself with all the purpose I wanted growing up as I was one of the only LDS people in my elementary, middle and high school. It was all about black and white decisions; about standing up against evil. When I graduated I was worn out of that and really just wanted to be me without having to fight for truth all the time and never really being able to put my guard down. So once at BYU I was in heaven and I was excited to date guys that were thinking about their missions and education instead of more... sexy things :0). But I met Stew, a RM, who was thinking a lot about eternal things and we were engaged and married halfway through my freshmen year. I found myself in a whole new world that I was a bit uncomfortable with. I was in Happy Valley, at the "Lord's University", and already in the "endure to the end" phase of life at age 19! I had always been ready to say no to evil and proclaim truth and now I was hanging out with a bunch of temple sealed people who were worried about their majors and when to have babies. This caused a bit of a crisis for me because I had to redefine myself and find something to be dramatic and totally passionate about and my major, history, only got me so far. So time passed and I was coming to terms with this new "easy" and somewhat comfortable new take on life when I took my life perspective changing Religion class. :0)

It was a Pearl of Great Price class that was only for returned missionaries and Endowed students. So it was a little higher/deeper level stuff. As we discussed Adam and Eve's decision to eat the fruit the teacher told us one simple truth that totally applied to my life and helped me see my life with new importance, excitement, and clarity. This is it and its not that profound but at the time it was for me; "The Hardest choices me make in life are not between Good and Evil but rather between Good and Good." Adam and Eve weren't being asked if they wanted to serve Satan or God but really which commandment of God's would they follow; Good verses Good.

So here is my big point.... as we face our "endure to the end" lives we are not just cruising along but rather taking part in the most important hardest test of our lives. We must ask questions like: will we go to med school in Utah or Reno, will we move to California or stay put, will we have our next child in a year or nine months from now, which residency will we take, which job will we take, more school or start working...? These don't seem very dramatic at face value but what makes them so important is that they demand us to get down on our knees and ask our Father to guide us. We have to think for ourselves, we have to get personal inspiration, we have to chose goods that wont make sense to anyone else, we have to go out on faith more then we ever thought we could, and these decisions wont make it in the Ensign or New Era like a girl telling her city counsel that abortion is bad will, but they will bring us closer to God and make enduring more then just that.

There aren't many choices more profound then Adam and Eves and so you see I found my drama! I had not passed it in my teenager years of endless young women lessons on getting married in the temple, but rather it has just begun! And it is so much more fun then I ever thought possible! So way to go us, we are the real ones changing the world no matter what goods we are choosing between!

All my "Babies" are Sick

Today started out really well. So well, in fact, that we ventured to Walmart to get some necessary items and some pedealite (or however you spell it) just in case more sickness struck, but half way through our shopping trip Bridger threw up all over isle 4. My poor guy. We checked out leaving the very excited cleaning crew a nasty mess and headed home. As shown in the picture at the left Bridger was very sulky watching a movie after his post Walmart up-chuck. But comforted by Grandma Ras' rubber duckies that he has to carry around with him after every bath.

Later on, just like clock work Angeli got sick and threw up all over me as I fed her a bite of ice cream she was begging for. That was really grouse for me.

Stew is feeling like he too will be a little friendlier with his last meal and the toilet in not too long. So I will have to nurse my poor little family back to health and be the sole throw-up wiper-upper until they are all better. I am gratefully holding out and hoping that I either get it soon or not at all as I have a Babies R Us thing this Saturday that I would hate to miss. Maybe if I am too sick to go I will send Stew in my place. :0) Well, I am sure you loved a play-by-play of my family's throw-ups and I hope this nasty bug doesn't find its way into your home!

My Baby Boy is Sick

Okay so this picture has nothing to do with this entry but isn't it cute?!?!?!? This was our little man when he was 5 months old. I love those fat cheeks and bright blue eyes! Anyways, we have been hit by some sort of stomach flue. :0( We were just getting over our very nasty sore throats and runny noses too. Bridger wouldn't eat dinner tonight and then as he was jumping and frolicking about he started to throw-up the entire contents of his tummy. As soon as he was done regurgitating his lunch and afternoon snack he was happily splashing in the bath. We crossed our fingers that he had simply experienced a random urge to vomit. But just as Stew and I headed off to bed we heard a cough and a "Daddy". I went in to check on him and he, along with all his favorite bedtime necessities, was covered in more throw-up. After settling him down with one of his favorite movies on his favorite bean bag he threw-up again. There really isn't anything much left for him to throw-up poor guy! So here we are facing a very long night with our poor baby boy. I guess I can pass the night doing laundry and blogging. I just started my third load of laundry! I can only hope Angeli doesn't join us in our most likely all nighter.
I think he got it at nursery. Is anyone else out there suffering from tummy troubles? If so hopefully you can tell me it is only a 24 hour bug or something! Wishful thinking I guess. Good night to you all. Opp, here he goes again....