The cutest thing you have EVER seen.

Okay, so I put this up on a family website, but I have had protests that it needs to be available to other branches of family and also people to whom we are not strictly related. So here it is.

Note: there is one point where Mike and I totally aren't connecting what she's trying to say, so we just kind of wait for her to move on to something we understand. It has since been deduced that she says she needs to "rinse."

Enjoy.

Birthday Post (I'm having title-block today, guys.)

Okay, I'm gonna be straight with you. I don't have any pictures this week. So if you're one of those readers who's just looking for pictures of Katie, sorry. You'll have to come back next time.

That DOES NOT mean it was a bad week. Quite the contrary (unless you're my weight loss thermometer OF SCIENCE!) Wanna know why? Well, I bet you all already know. But still, it was my BIRTHDAY!! Woohoo! as Katie would say. (Though it usually applies to bubbles, chalk, and nursery in her case.)

Here's how it went: I unfortunately had my birthday on Tuesday. Yeah, lame, right? Well, maybe not! First, Mike woke me up ABSURDLY early because he made me breakfast in bed. It was a pancake shaped like a B with chocolate chips in the holes. Go ahead, say it. "Awwwwwww . . . "

Unfortunately, Katie has taken to waking up at ridiculous hours of the morning and then NOT SNUGGLING ME BACK TO SLEEP. Can you tell I'm offended?

Side note: sorry for all the caps lock this week. There are days when I'm just overly emotive, okay?

Anyways, it was okay that Katie didn't go back to sleep because I got all sugared up from the pancake. So then, Mike went to work, and my day was . . . the same. Until approx. 3:45 pm, when my mom came to man the fort while Katie took her nap and I went to the movies with the sibs. We saw Pirates: Band of Misfits in 3D. It was, well, eh. There were a couple really funny parts, and of course the animation was good (it was the Wallace and Gromit people). But really, not exactly top form. But still, I wasn't cleaning up or changing diapers, was I?

So after the movie, I find that there has been a changing of the guard and I have to drive the children and the giant suburban back to their house, where Mike will come pick me up. This turns out to be favorable because Mike dropped Katie off with my mom again so that we could go to Carino's. (Yummy.)

We then retrieved our child and went home for birthday cake and presents, then stayed up late watching Mirror Mirror because I got it for my birthday. (What? I'm a sucker for fairy tales, all right?)

Overall, a good day. Katie wasn't even that much of a booger. But I did learn a few lessons from this:

• Birthdays once you're the mommy just aren't the same. But I hear it gets better when you have over-affectionate school-age kids instead of just toddlers.
• My days of sleeping in ever are officially gone for good.
• You can't have high expectations just because of a filmmaker's past. Pirates: Band of Misfits wasn't that great a movie. 
• Katie is nuts for birthday cake. Between the cake we had last time we had dinner at my parents', the GIANT cupcake my visiting teachers brought me (I took a picture but I'm too lazy to go get my camera), and the birthday cake Mike made me (thank heaven I bought cake mixes), Katie has really gotten a taste for them. The first thing she said when she woke me up this morning was "Happy Birthday! Happy birthday cake?" As if telling me happy birthday meant she got more cake. Geez, how old is this kid?

So, a very successful day, I think. But now I have to be super super productive. See, we're going out of town tomorrow to visit Mike's family for a WHOLE WEEK! We're so excited we're like little hyperactive puppies. Especially Katie. (But for her it's quite literal, as she spends a significant amount of the day on hands and knees, panting and saying "mommy? Play puppies?") (Except for when she wants to play cows and moo and pretend to chew grass.) (Whose kid is this anyhow?)

But I have discovered that if I want to have the kind of vacation where we don't have a plan or stress about anything, my house has to be absolutely, meticulously, obsessive-compulsively clean. So I've spent this whole week (except Tuesday) cleaning. And today I have to do laundry, pack, clean out the fridge, and vacuum right before Katie goes to bed. If I vacuum before that, she'll mess it up, and if I wait until after, I'll wake her up. Tricky, eh? 

Oh man, I'm excited for tomorrow. I'll probably sleep in the car. A lot. Happy birthday, everybody!

Families Can Be Together Forever

I had a bunch of (what I thought was) witty front matter, but I'm going to skip it and just start posting about our trip. It was too amazing. (And don't be fooled by all these words. There are pictures at the bottom.)

Here's the story: Mike's sister and her husband have had a little girl in their family for almost a year and a half (she's four weeks younger than Katie) but she was only their foster child. Happily for all of us, she officially joined the family about a week and a half ago. (That was very exciting, but Mike and I were still driving because he only got one day off of work. So we weren't there for that part of the story.) But the really exciting part happened the next day (when we were there.)

I realize that most of you who read my blog (or all, because you probably consist of my mom, Mike's mom, and several other relatives who are just looking for pictures of Katie) are LDS. Just in case some of you aren't, I'm going to explain.

In our church, we believe that the family is an eternal principle. It is the foundation of the church, of society even. It's so important that in 1995, the leaders of our church came out with The Family: A Proclamation to the World, explaining exactly what we believe the family means and why it is so important to us. And even though that was 17 years ago, it remains one of the most widely referenced pieces of literature used by church members because we hold the family so sacred. And if families are so important, how can they end when we die? That just seems wrong, doesn't it?

Luckily, that's why we have the temple. In the temples, worthy members of the church can come to learn about the Lord and participate in ordinances, both for themselves and for those who have gone before, such as baptism for our ancestors who have died without the gospel. The highest of these ordinances is the sealing ordinance, in which families are sealed together for time and for all eternity. Many couples are married in the temple, and the children that are born later to them are automatically sealed to them. The real miracle, though, is what happens when children come to the family who weren't born in the covenant.

So yes, we may have missed the adoption in the court house. But we were able to go the next day to the Portland Temple with Abby and her parents and brother to see her sealed to them. Her big brother, Spencer, even got to come into the temple for the ceremony. It was beautiful. Now Abby is part of their family just as if she had been born into it originally, and is sealed to them eternally.


Enough talk! Here are some pictures at the temple after the sealing and at the party we had the rest of the day. (Amy, if you want any of the ones that are (slightly) edited, let me know.) And yes, I will add a couple comments. Don't get antsy.

This first one just made me chuckle. "Mommy! I don't want to hold still and smile any more! I wanna run around! Aaaaaahhh!"

This one may or may not be that cute. It's just the only one where all the cousins were facing my direction at the same time. Also, apparently I'm related to a not-so-discreet Spiderman.

Here's Mike and his dad. I TOTALLY should have gotten Mike's grandpa in the picture with them. Three generations!

Sumo hug!

Welcome to the family, Abby!

If You Give a Katie New Clothes

This morning I cleaned out Katie's dresser and traded out the small stuff for all her bigger clothes. (Mostly hand-me-downs, but only from people with good taste. I mean, for the '90's, at least.) And of course, it inspired me. Here's a story. (Note: the pictures are not all from today. They're just adorable.)

If You Give a Katie New Clothes

By Brittany

Illustrated by Katie

If you give a Katie new clothes, she's going to want to try them all on.

When she tries on her new clothes, she's going to want some shoes to try on with them.

And putting on shoes will remind her of how much she loves playing outside, so she'll need some gear so she won't get sunburned.

After putting on her gear, she'll want to get her dollies ready to go outside, too.

Then the baby carrier will remind her of her favorite bike trailer, and she'll want to go for a bike ride.

Of course, going outside for bikes, she will see the trampoline, and it will remind her how much she loves to bounce.

After all that bouncing, she'll notice that her hands and feet are all messy, and she will demand that she gets a tubby.

 After her tubby, she'll need to get dressed, and will notice the pile of new clothes on the floor.

And of course she'll need to try them all on.

The End.

Life is Flashin' Before Our Eyes!

No, we're not dying. Well, if you like to think philosophically. But not for another 60 years at least.

I'm just talking about how awfully fast time is passing right now. I haven't blogged in a long time not because I haven't had anything to say, but because I've been so busy! I know what you're thinking: I'm a stay-at-home mom of one kid, I should really just be able to blog every day, right? WRONG. But don't ask me why. Because I really don't know. Logically, I should. I just can't.

Anyhow, lots has been going on around here. For example, Mike submitted his medical school application this morning. Most of you know that we've been down this road before. Mike has already applied to medical school and not gotten in. But, with a lot of faith and prayer and fasting, we've decided to apply again. This year, though, we've applied to a lot more schools--24 to be exact--and three DO schools. We're tossing the net wide. Pray for us.

In other news, Katie has turned into a fully-functioning person. I'm serious. She tells jokes, sings songs, plays pretend with her stuffed animals, and sasses me when I ask her to do things. I'm afraid for when she's actually two years old.

For example, yesterday she was playing with her stuffed Minnie Mouse, and she grabbed its head and had it say, "Walk? Walk?" to which she shook her finger and replied, "nope, nope, nope!"

On another occasion, when she was trying to get in the way and making a mess when we had already told her no, I shooed her into the family room so we could clean up the kitchen and she looked at me and said, "booger, nope! Booger, nope!" I'm not sure if she was calling me a booger or insisting that she is NOT one. Either way, I need to watch my language. She's more of a parrot than a kid sometimes.

Whups. I hear a little voice upstairs saying, "Mama! Mama! Out!"

I'll probably do another picture post next time to make up for being such a lame blogger.

Happy Mother's Day!, also a Photo Recap (Courtesy of my new camera)

You were all beginning to despair of me ever putting pictures up again, weren't you? Well, I am doing it now. The fact is, I've been running around panting like an over-excited puppy, clicking at everything and everyone.

Okay, not really. But pretty close.

Here is a summary (in pictures) of what I've been doing ever since I got my new camera. Enjoy.

 

My little baby sister going to prom! Aaah! Dress courtesy of St. Vincent de Paul thriftstore + my mom, Hair courtesy of Me.

This is the back of her hair. Not bad, if I do say so myself.  

Sarah and her date. And you can see more of the dress my mom fixed up.

Katie has recently discovered that she really enjoys the trampoline. Part of me is terrified, and part of me is very happy that she is not a super-wimp like her mama. 

Remember when I told you about her towel game? The one where she liked to throw a towel over her head and then giggle hysterically and run around the room blindly? Well, it's only gotten more exciting. I call her my little ghosty.

Recognize those jammies, anybody? Mom? Gram?  

This picture is important. Very. Want to know why? It is proof that Katie is capable of going down the stairs by herself. She scoots on her bum singing "wee!" the entire time. Am I surprised? Not in the least.

Ahah! The big girl car seat! She was just too uncomfortable in her baby car seat. Her little legs were all scrunched up and she was not having fun anymore. But want to hear a secret? She's not 20 pounds yet. She's super tall, but still a little skinny twig baby.

This is Parker. Well, kind of. He's in the middle of that somewhere. His position on his rugby team was "hooker." Baha! Um, I mean, did I say that out loud? (He prefers to just call himself the "hook.") 

I know what you're thinking. Brittany posting a picture of herself? What? Well, I am. Because I've lost almost 12 pounds since January and I got a haircut last weekend. The haircut is what is being displayed. (And it's a one-time thing. Don't expect to see me all over the place here. 'Cause it ain't gonna happen.)

These are my oriental lilies. They grow in my kitchen. I have four (well, kind of) potted plants, and they are  very good at making me happy and relaxed. My lilies decided to bloom just this week, and besides being absolutely gorgeous, they also smell really lovely and are filling the house with their lovely perfume. 

This is Emma. You probably know that, but I'm freaked out by it. She's a big kid. Like, seriously. My baby sister is all grown-up looking and stylish.

This is my beautiful mother. She is amazing. She is kind, patient, long-suffering, clever, funny, beautiful, smart, talented, creative, loving, devoted, sensitive, and the best mom anybody could ever hope for. When she sees this list, she's going to laugh and call me a silly girl, then proceed to say that those words describe her children, not her. I'm here to say that even if we do get to claim one or two of those adjectives, how could we have gotten them if she hadn't shown us her example? Mom, you're the best. Don't think you're anything else. Happy Mother's Day.

Below are the photos we used to make Mother's Day cards for Katie's grandmas. I DARE you not to ooh and aah at how incredibly ridiculously adorable she is. (Also, the white things in her mouth are marshmallows. The photo shoot would not have happened without bribery.)

Happy Mother's Day!

The Terrible News is No Longer Terrible (Sequel to previous post)

'member last week when I wrote that awful post about how awful my life was? Well, let me tell you something.

I was having a horrible few days without my camera. Katie decided to do everything cute and start posing fun all the time, and actually saying "cheese" when prompted (as opposed to the rest of the time we tell her to say "cheese" and she glares and says "NO!"). It was feeling sad and desperate.

Way-ell, I think Mike was starting to notice how sad and depressed I was without my camera. I love to take pictures (on occasion I'm actually rather good) and one of my great ambitions is to become a real photographer. So I tend to just click and click and click. We have hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS of pictures of Katie. (And a couple of them actually aren't blurry!)

So Saturday comes around, and I'd briefly talked to my sister Emma about using her camera for a while (they have like 6 at their house so she could probably share with Sarah or my dad if needed). However, before I have a chance to go get her camera, Mike comes up with a devious plan and sets it into motion! It turns out, he had a secret stash--quite literally in his sock drawer. Go figure?

He comes up and is like, "what if we replaced your camera?" And I'm like, "well, I guess I looked at some options. Costco and Best Buy have some $100 point-and-shoots that I could deal with." And he's like, "No way, woman. I'm talking better!"

Turns out, he researched some options also, and found this:
It's the Nikon Coolpix L120! And he found it at Costco for less than $200! Yay!

I know what you're thinking. That's not a real camera. And you're right. It's not. The kind of camera I'm hoping for someday is the kind that's up in the thousands, comes with different lenses, and should only be bought by real photographers who know how to use it (unlike me just yet). It's the kind of camera that will only come when Mike's a doctor and is like, "I stayed late and did one extra brain surgery today, so who wants to go to Europe? Also, Brittany, I got you this professional-grade camera."

Yeah, it's gonna be a few years before that happens. But right now, I have something better than a typical point-and-shoot that I can use to improve my skills--something I didn't think I would have for years! Woohoo!

Excuse me. I need to go play with my camera now. Bye!