A little bit of Sarah for those of you missing her

Last night Sarah surprised us by raising her arm in the air and cheering "YES!" at a random play of the NBA game on TV. Justin, naturally, was overcome with pride.

She had never said "yes" before; it's always been just "yeah", usually preceded by "food". "Food? yeah? food? yeah?" as she nods her way to the kitchen as I follow for the 100th time that day.

In case you haven't seen Sarah's knees, she is now a real kid.

She tripped on the sidewalk on our way to the mailboxes. She cried and I picked her up. I asked her if she wanted to go back home or keep going to get the mail. She wanted to keep going, the little trooper. For a professional whiner, she sure can be tough.

Here we are, where Sarah would always rather be, the park.

And here's little dancey pants in action. This is just a highlight of what was a 3+ minute dance.

Mildly Extreme Backyard Makeover

This past weekend we finally finished a major project. It all started with Justin deciding he did, after all, want a garden.

I didn't do a very good job at taking a "before" shot of our neglected backyard but this picture should give you an idea. I hate sunflowers.

Yucky weeds....infertile clay soil.

Our rusty, one handled wheelbarrow for ornamentation.

So....
The south end of the terrace we planted grass seed (which I've been watering by hand 2-4 times a day for a month). Here's Sarah taking a turn.

With materials and tools from my dad, Justin built these fancy garden boxes with Nate's help. Nate actually helped a lot on this project. I was always so relieved when Nate came over. He's much more handy with a drill and shovel than I ever could be.

Add a cubic yard of compost and a cubic yard of bark and ta da! Shout-out to my sis Rachel for the use of her truck. And apologies to our next door neighbor for the tire tracks in his dirt.

We planted tomatoes in one box and 3 varieties of peppers and 2 kinds of squash in the other.

And a peach tree. Come by in 4 years and we might have a peach. And we may have landscaped the "hill" but don't count on it.

And in other home-project news, our washing machine came to a screeching halt (literally) and is most likely irrepairable. We tore it apart trying to fix it and although we found no evidence it was due to malfeasant mice, I'm still blaming it on them.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Who would have thought that this boy

would grow up and marry this girl?

And 4 years later be chasing this little girl around?

(Notice Sarah's perfect blend of our looks and personality? No mistaking whose child she is.)

Fish and Cake (not Fishcake)

Saturday we went up Hobble Creek Canyon so Justin and his brother Nate could do a little fishing. I was so afraid of Sarah walking right into the river (because she would have if I didn't hold onto her every second).

So Justin kindly put Sarah on his back while walking through the river. So then I was afraid of both of them falling in.

Nate and Sam.

That night I made a cake I saw on America's Test Kitchen. Well kind of made it. The cake part called for coffee and espresso powder so my version is from a mix. And the frosting is supossed to be a chocolate pudding-like confection but I didn't have half the ingredients for that so I just made some regular chocolate frosting. But the brilliance of it was still captured. You split each layer in half horizontally, frost between layers but the 4th layer you crumble up and stick around all the sides. It would be a great technique for like a bear cake or something furry. And it tasted good.

Here's Sarah sharing her knowledge of words she knows. She gets a little distracted outside so it's not her best effort.

So Glad She's Mine

As I was rocking Sarah Monday night, I looked down to see if she was almost asleep. She was staring at the ceiling and blinking ever so slowly. I whispered to her, "Sarah, I love you." A sweet, sleepy smile spread across her face. Then she reached her hand up slowly to my cheek, and gently turned my face forward so I wouldn't look at her anymore. Ah, motherhood.

Someone had an itchy nose and a muddy hand.

Sarah liked "The Princess and the Frog". Well, for about 10 minutes.

This was Sarah on Sunday. I couldn't help but think how fitting it was that she was vacuuming while holding her doll on Mother's Day of all days. Reminds me of the first 9 months of her life.

First Annual Mother and Children Mother's Day Picture. Don't mind the work-in-progress backyard.

This is a game Sarah made up. She calls it "hat" but is really a blanket draped over her head so she can't see a thing. Then she walks around and give hugs.

I just love my little weirdo.

The Arm-Wrestler

Want to see me beat a grown man in an arm wrestle? Check it out here.

While you're there, read the rest of this hilarious and poignant blog.

18 Months Old

Sarah is 18 months old today. She's half-way to being 3 but I don't want to think about that.

She's 20 lbs 14 oz, 30.5 inches tall and a bundle of giggles.

She has a love/fear relationship with dogs. She's terrified of their bark and gets nervous when they're close but she is so enthralled when she hears one far away and always points them out on the TV or in books. Here she's pointing to where she hears one.

She's trying to give me a kiss.

She still loves to swing. Here she is on the exact swing, exactly 1 year earlier.

Sarah comes up with her own ideas of what to do and how she likes things. Lately she's been all about "bye" meaning "rock-a-bye". When I put her down for a nap, I wrap her up in this blanket, read her a book and rock with her. So now she likes to play "bye" which means "Help me into this chair, put my blanket on me and give me a book."

She's really getting attached to certain things. In addition to her blanket, she loves her doll. Everytime she picks her up, she has to pat her. She gives her food (real or imaginary), gives her kisses, and swings her by the hair. And she loves this golf ball. Justin has like a hundred in the garage and this is her favorite. She likes to throw it down the driveway and then chase after it. This is how she looks when she's ready to go for a ride. She's got her doll and her ball. If she drops one, we'll hear about it.

You'll notice her car seat is front-facing now. She's very excited about that, as you can see.

And my flowers make me happy so I thought I'd share.

The Harvard Sailing Team

I felt I better spread the funniness. Watch this:
Boys Will Be Girls


And if you liked that, watch this:
Poker

Style, Culture, Cuisine and Literature.

Style. In 1 hour and $2 worth of fabric and elastic, you too can make a twirly skirt that will scare your 1-year-old. Well only at first. Then she liked it. Then she snagged it and tore a hole.

Culture. Last weekend my family reunited at our homeland of Logan, Utah. My nephew, Peyton was being ordained a deacon on Sunday so Saturday I took Sarah and my nieces Kyra and Jaana to Willow Park Zoo. Most of the animals are birds. The animal attracting the biggest crowd was this raccoon. He's trying to escape.

I hate raccoons. If anyone remembers the story of the raccoons in my parents attic, you'll know why.

Oh look, more birds.

Sarah running from one bird exhibit to the next.

Even the bobcat was bored. But Sarah loved it. And it's more fun than keeping her from diving into a duckpond. And it's like $1 to get in, if you're honest.

Cuisine. Want to know what Sarah does at home? Sarah spends a lot of time on the kitchen counter.

A lot of time.

I couldn't resist. Here's more of the beaters. She learned from me that licking the beaters is one of the finer things in life and I couldn't be prouder.

One more. I give her props on creativity.

She finally wants down.

Literature. I don't know about your baby, but mine can read.

Giddy for Glee

Who's excited for Glee tonight?

And then after that, watch The Good Wife on CBS. You won't be disappointed.

Easter 2010

Here's Sarah all dressed up for Easter. (A week early because of General Conference).

If I remember correctly, she's mimicking the bark of the neighbor's dog in this photo.

Sarah learned a new word this weekend. Candy. I've also added a new sentence to my repertoire. No more candy, Sarah.

Since Sarah was just a few months old last Easter, this was her first year actually participating in an egg hunt. She didn't really get the concept. She plays with the plastic eggs we got last year all the time. I think she was curious as to why they were in the grass but had no idea why we were making such a fuss over them.

And this blindingly green grass is my parent's yard. Our lawn still looks like February.

Most of her basket was filled by my sweet little cousin Trevor. Once he filled up his basket, he helped by putting stuff in Sarah's. This is my bro-in-law Kenny, sis Rachel, aunt Melanie and her son Trevor.

Once she found a piece of candy, she was content and didn't feel the need to get more. Well, she was content if we opened it and let her eat it.

Expert egg hunters-- Zack and Kyra.

Sunday morning. I will always remember this as the Easter we woke up to 6 inches of snow. And the Easter Sarah played in the snow with no pants or shoes.

She was fully dressed at one time but got all wet. So we stripped her down and tossed her clothes in the dryer. She made her way outside again in just her onesie so I figured I might as well put her coat on.

She's a tough little girl. And it wasn't that cold. I promise.