utah lake

A couple days ago we went for a family walk around Utah Lake.  We had no idea how close we live to this beautiful place.  It was probably a five minute drive.  Maybe eight minutes, tops.  Our breath was taken away by the view, the rocks and the seemingly floating purple mountains.

The placement of this sign made me chuckle

Beautiful Mount Timpanogos

We are hoping to be able to take a few more walks along this shore and maybe have a full out pic-nic before we head out of town in just THREE SHORT WEEKS! The semester is winding down so fast.  We can hardly believe it!  Today marks the start of Conference Weekend! I love CONFERENCE WEEKEND!  Happy weekending friends!

little friends

With the beautiful weather we've been having lately there's been lots of opportunities for enjoying the outdoors.  Whether it's socializing in the quad just outside our window, going for a walk with friends or just having the windows open, we've been LOVING the weather! There's a little playgroup going in our ward right now and I don't know how much Madeline has been enjoying it, but I've sure loved getting to know other moms and get out of hibernation and socialize.  It's been great.  Madeline has, however, found quite the little following of handsome young fellas.  There's probably five or six little boys less than a year older than her that are always fascinated by her bow and her toys and wanting to entertain her.  It's pretty cute.  Although her daddy is considering more and more seriously getting a gun; not til she's like twelve, but he's realizing we're not the only ones who think she's a pretty cute little girl.

One of our favorite lil boys to have play dates with is Thayne.  His parents are from Spokane as well.  I recently realized it would be awesome if we watched each others' kids so that we could each get some husband and wife time.  They were kind enough to watch Madeline a couple weeks ago so we could go to the Temple and last night they let us return the favor.  Thayne was so fun to have in our home, although I'm so not ready to have a baby as heavy as he is.  It's amazing what a couple extra months will do to a baby!  I took a few snapshots of the two of them together last night.  Nothing professional, but hope you enjoy! {And by a few snapshots I mean seventeen...}

Thayne wasn't quite sure what to think at first.

But he warmed up just fine.  Isn't he a CUTIE!?!

Wish Madeline would have smiled too... but you get what you get.

Love the matching double-chins ha

I think she may have been taking care of some personal business at the moment

- k not really but her facial expression combined with his would make you

think so would it lol

Madeline: I wonder if he'll notice if I just slide my hand into his...

Thayne: What are you trying to do Madeline?

Madeline: shooooot.....

Just putting herself out there

Not enough personal space for Thayne

And then somehow Madeline got into a pushup position and decided to

 show off her awesome form.  Still not sure how this last one happened.  

Thayne was such a great little boy.  He tried so hard to help Madeline be happy while Jeremy was putting some clothes on her.  I was holding her at the time and he fought out of my arms and crawled to the other room to rescue her from the evils of pants and jackets.  It was really cute. We're so sad that these little kids won't be able to grow up together.  Thayne and his family are moving to Seattle and as you all know we're moving to Baltimore.  Can't get much further than that... Here's to hoping they both get accepted to BYU and meet there someday :)  Just kidding... it would be funny though, wouldn't it? 

crazy baby

Growing up I was always a wild sleeper.  I was probably about one year old when I started stripping down in my crib.  I became a pro at unzipping my pjs and leaving my lil bare baby bum for my parents to find in the morning.  {Jeremy would probably argue I'm still a crazy sleeper.  Not in a naked way, just in a hog-the-covers-and-the-bed-and-use-three-pillows-to-support-every-part-of-my-body-and-sleep-talk-and-roll-around kind of crazy} Lately madeline has been doing a lot of spinning in her crib.  We'll lay her down on way and in the morning her head will be at the other end of the bed.  She's mastered the art of spinning, not rolling quite yet.  But spinning she can do! This morning we woke up to a whole new level of crazy.  But I do kind of love finding little ways she takes after me.

{don't worry.  I made sure she wasn't in any pain 

before I ran to grab the camera}

Oh how we love this little girl!!!!!!

At her doctor's appointment on Monday she weighed in at 13 lbs. She's so close to rolling over so I naturally have three or four very long videos over her almost rolling over but not quite.  They're a little boring so I won't share them with you.  Her interest in books grows every day.  Grabbing at toys and objects and mom's hair has become quite easy for her.  The newest development is the way she watches us eat. She'll lock her eyes in on my spoon while I'm eating and open her mouth as it whisks past her face and into my mouth. We'll probably start her on solids in about a month. That way we don't have to worry abut juggling one more thing amidst packing, graduation, moving, trip to arches, etc. She spontaneously laughed for me the other day while I was changing her diaper and it totally made my day! Madeline can charm just about anybody with her gummy smile and she doesn't hesitate to share her sweet spirit with everyone we meet.  We just love her to pieces and feel so blessed to be able to call her our own.

yours truly...

Dear Sarah,

           

I noticed you woke up happy today!  You put on a smile even though your daughter woke up right as you were about to join some friends for a healthy morning run.  You put in an extra effort to make yourself look pretty under a time constraint and you even made a sandwich for your husband before he ran out the door this morning.

However, I just couldn't let you have a good day today.  I made sure your daughter had a mess at the doctor today requiring you to maneuver a stroller through a very small public restroom.  I then had you wait for 35 minutes while the doctor wasted your time chit-chatting with nurses.  I know you hate this doctor, she really gets under your skin, but this was your last time seeing her, and I just couldn't let one more opportunity to frustrate you slip through my fingers.  She told you your baby was healthy and growing just fine, but followed all the booty-kissing with a list of things that might be wrong with your baby.  She always does this, but this list made you particularly alarmed and then annoyed.  The list included an x-ray for Madeline's hips even though you already paid $500 for an ultra sound to look at the exact same thing two months ago, which reported everything to be fine. It also included a heart murmur that "isn't anything to worry about but needs to be checked for the next 18 years of her life" and "an ear infection that isn't an ear infection yet but probably will be soon so we'd like you to come in every month til it goes away. OH and side note it may permanently affect her hearing.  But hey other than that stuff your baby looks great! Have a nice day!" 

You finally made it out of the doctor's office with just enough time to make it on time to your class.  Oh wait! You now have a hungry baby.  Better feed her before class.  Can't believe you appointment went an hour over! (Didn't see that one coming muah ha ha) So you fed her and gave her to Jeremy and made your way to class.  You only missed twenty minutes but it was still awkward coming in late.  Today was critique day so the class took turns critiquing each other's work.  You made a couple comments that were shut down, and it was just a little more than you could handle today, wasn't it.  Finally class got out and you found your husband and baby and the granola bar in the diaper bag, because you haven't had anything to eat yet today.  You thought your day couldn't get any worse.  Then you found out your husband had to stay on campus the rest of the day for a group project, then to take a test, and then he has to work tonight.  All you wanted was to come home with him and let him hold you and pig out on a huge thing of ice cream.  But that's not gonna happen.  You probably won't see him til tomorrow morning.  And you and your mom have given up eating sweets.  Plus let's be real, even if you could have ice cream you don't have any and you really can't afford to buy luxuries like ice cream right now.  

So you kissed your husband good bye and started for the door to walk home.  And guess what? It rained/hailed the whole way home.  Good thing the stroller has a cover over it.  But you were cold and wet.  Then the sun came out as soon as you got home.  I'm really good at sabotaging your day, aren't I.  Well I think that about sums it up.  I'd advise you not to make diner tonight because it might unexplainably burn... 

yours truly,

trying to ensure you have the worst day possible

reminiscing pregnancy

Remember this post?  And this one, too? It's so weird reading old posts about being pregnant.  I feel like I've forgotten a lot about pregnancy.  Remembering how badly I wanted to see her face and watch her kick in my arms and not my belly is kind of weird.  My days revolve around her 99% of the time now.  And I love that, its just, I don't know, strange to reminisce.  I feel as though I've had her beautiful face engrained in my memory forever, but I haven't.  

 As I was thinking about this last night I was remembering the video my dad put together for our wedding reception and I thought I'd share it with you.  Who does she look more like? Everybody tells us she looks like me but with Jeremy's build and his hair.  But after looking at some of his baby pictures on this video I'm not so sure anymore.  I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

born to be a queen

What a beautiful reminder of what matters most.

This video made me really want to focus on the things that

truly matter to our Father in Heaven.  I'm not giving

up on healthy eating and exercise, but I feel renewed

in my quest to better myself and be worth to return to Him.

Hope you have a happy weekend!

engagements: cody & ariena

I was so lucky to be able to take some engagement
photos for one of my dear friends who is getting married in May!
 They are just the cutest couple and I'm so glad they found each other!

Congrats Cody and Ariena!