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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Easter 2012


I'm REALLLY bad at blogging! So slowly I'm catching up. Here are some photos from Easter!

Connor coloring eggs..I never even got a photo of the finished product! :( But he had a blast doing it!!









It was sort of a rushed Saturday. We colored eggs while getting food together and making salads to take to the park for a picnic. Ben had to work at 2 or 3 so we were sort of limited on time. We went to Tonaquint park and had fun on the playground equipment, having Connor do easter egg hunts with plastic candy filled eggs and eating chicken from Smith's. We went with the Gates family and enjoyed the nice weather and our own pavilion area. Connor was so funny with the egg hunt. He had to look inside each egg before looking for a new one, and had to eat whatever was inside before moving on as well. It was a long process.
















 Easter Sunday. What handsome boys I have!





Tuesday, August 28, 2012

It's funny I guess...

How life has a way of working out. Even though everyone always tells you it will...you don't really want to believe them. Sometimes you do, but it's just too heartbreaking to think that what you think you want isn't really going to be. And to accept that something better is around the corner is to accept that this isn't going to be. Make sense? Well it's been one heck of a year. It's been hell but we have had some happy times and really overall I can say I'm pretty content with life. I love being home a lot and I have loved having Ben home a lot the past year. But it is definitely time for a change of pace and boy will it ever change! So the exciting news is that we have been asked by our neighbors and friends to run a french style cafe with them! It is going to be in downtown Santa Clara, and it's going to be AMAZING. It's called Breakfast at Tifiny's, since Tifiny is the one starting it, along with her husband Earl. They are two of the most interesting and spectacular people I have ever met. To tell you their life story would take me hours of typing. But they have been totally inspired to do this. They started out serving crepes and Navajo tacos at the Tuacahn farmer's market and were approached to set up a permanent cafe a few months ago. Earl is our crossfit trainer (when we make the time to go...we suck lately) and so we had talked with him a few times and I eagerly said that Ben totally wanted to help in any way. We both did. A few months back we had wanted to start our own crepe stand somehow but didn't have the money to put up or the capability to make it happen. Well the Roses made it happen and we are so blessed that they kept us in the back of their minds! When we thought Red Mountain Spa was going to happen we dismissed it as an option but it didn't happen, and incidentally the day they said they wanted to contact Ben again about still maybe working there is the same day the restaurant opens! Weird fate...but so meant to be. We have been spending the week tasting food, making business plans, and it just feels so RIGHT! This is something that will work so well with our other plans and things going on. We are bringing Europe to St. George! Opera, French food, what more could you ask? There's so much more to this story but we are just so SO SO SO excited to be a part of something that we are passionate about and to do it with people we truly respect and enjoy being around makes it an even more amazing opportunity! So keep your eyes and ears open! We have a soft opening on September 15th and the grand opening will be October 17th.  Prepare to have your tastebuds pleased with fresh eclairs, pavlova, cream puffs, chicken salad sandwiches on home made croissants, crepes and more! The food is to DIE for and oh man.....you have to come try it all!

So there's that, then the opera opens the first weekend in November! And we are doing a huge Christmas festival at the Opera house in December...and the carolers will be starting to perform in November...so right now we are balancing caroling rehearsals, recipe trials, business plans, nonprofit applications and forms, opera auditions, city council meetings, photo shoots, costume creation including buying fabric and sewing all the costumes, event planning and oh yeah...PARENTING! It's extremely overwhelming but we will NOT complain. Like ever. This is our dreams coming true. So overdue and so welcome! So thanks for your prayers, your love, your faith in us and in the plan for us, and for all the words of encouragement along the way. I am truly excited to see where this year takes us!!!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Parker

So last night while thinking about Parker and his upcoming MRI (which was this morning) we started thinking about his development and tried to remember what Connor was doing at this age. Thank you blog because I had posted a lot about Connor and what he was doing right about now! It made me sad that I haven't really done the same thing for Parker. Life is just crazy busy...but it was before I guess too...something about blogging has lost my interest but for my kids sake and my memory's sake I really want to do it more. So here is a post all about Parker!

Parker is smart and silly! He loves to jabber and make new noises and he even has a squeal that is much like the one Connor had around this age. He loves almost all foods- at first he didn't really love veggies but he is coming around! He loves his sweet potatoes and squash like any baby, and the other day I got him to eat some peas. He eats cereal with some fruit mixed in after his long morning nap. He basically wakes up first thing to nurse then goes back to sleep for 2-3 hours. Heavenly! So he eats his cereal and fruit, then after some play time has a nap. Then he nurses more, and a little later has some veggie and meat, and if he's really hungry, he has another jar of fruit! He loves to play in his walker, or on the floor with some toys. He loves to be in Connor's crib with some toys, or on the floor of Connor's room which is covered with foam squares. He isn't crawling yet but he knows how to go backwards, and he pulls himself onto his tummy from sitting position. I have seriously NEVER seen him roll from back to tummy. I think he CAN but chooses not to. But so funny for a kid his age to have not done that! He's just content to not be very mobile. He is a WATCHER. He watches Connor constantly and the dogs, and just is REALLY mellow and enjoys life. He is a momma's boy and LOVES to nurse and snuggle with me. He started reaching for people in the past week or two, and I ALWAYS have preference. If I'm around he leans for me like crazy! Today when he was being prepped for his MRI I had to sit in a chair on the other side of the curtain so he wouldn't see me and get upset that he couldn't nurse. It was so funny cuz a couple of times he spotted me!  He's vey aware and alert and smiles ALL the time. People go out of their way every day to come tell me what a beautiful baby boy he is. They love his piercing blue eyes, his long eyelashes, his sweet and loving smily and his cute little curl on the top of his head. He is my BABY...he just makes me melt and I LOVE looking into his eyes.

He has started giggling more and more and he and Connor will sit together and just laugh their guts out for NO reason sometimes- just feeding on one another's laughter! It's fun to watch and makes me get tears in my eyes to see what a sweet relationship they have.  I am so happy I brought them both into this world!

As I sit typing he is sitting on my lap, watching the screen and sometimes trying to type. He is saying "Ma ma ma...da dah" and all sorts of noises that have me excited to hear him say the real words! One day he was sitting on my lap facing me and I heard him say "ma ma"so I said it again and he studied my lips really closely, then clear as day said it back to me! "Ma Ma" It sounded like one of those movie  voice overs they do for babies hahaha it was awesome! He is sitting here doing pat a cake which he has done for many months on cue. He thinks he's pretty neat. He has a sound I'm hearing more and more "Aaa beee..." sounds like "happy"  or "baby" which is cute! He also growls and makes this MAD noise when he's frustrated and sometimes we can't tell if it's Connor or Parker! He LOVES to spit and blow raspberries OVER AND OVER. It makes grandma Betsy really mad because he does it so loud! Ha ha...and he LOVES to do it when he's being fed which means we get showered in his food. GROSS. But he has a mind of his own which we love! He also loves running his hand over his lips while he talks to hear the noise it makes...ya know? Hard to explain in words. He is just sitting here saying mamamama...I LOVE it. He also love love loves the water. We have gone swimming a lot this summer and he just splashes like crazy and doesn't care when he gets his face all wet from the splashing. He also loves the tub and will kick and splash forever if we let him! He and Connor have fun taking baths together as well.

Parker doesn't go to bed very early, he stays up til 8:30 or 9:30 depending on the night but then he sleeps all night long! It's so nice to get rest. The only time he didn't sleep well was when his bottom two teeth broke through! Yep he got two at once and they are SO cute! We loved his gummer grin but his toother grin is just as adorable! He has just started eating gerber puffs in the past couple days and it's so cute to watch him reach for them and feed himself! He tried it last week but gagged on every small bite and puked...so I'm glad he's figured it out now! I'm much more laxed with him then I was with Connor..I didn't let Connor have ice cream or sugar or anything for a lot longer..but I have let Parker taste a lot of things for the past few months. He loves it!

Oh and most fun of all- he's a little singer! He has started making singing noises this past week and it's SO SWEET. I know it's cuz he sees and hears Connor singing ALL THE TIME and we have a lot more music in our home than ever with Ben's caroling group and the fact that he is singing again.  It's awesome and just how it should be!





 Wanted to capture those gummers before the teeth broke through! 
 Making that noise with his mouth and fingers..the one I was trying to describe :)
 Blowing raspberries