Happy Birthday, Maren!

Happy Birthday, Maren! Here are just a few facts about YOU at age one.

1. Maren weighs 19 lbs and is 29.5 inches tall. She is in the 20th percentile for her weight (which is up from the 11th just a few months ago). She is incredibly active, started walking at exactly 10 months and has been on the move ever since. She also loves to dance!
   
2. Maren has 10 teeth.
3. She takes two naps a day (9am and 1:30pm). She goes to bed at 7:30pm and wakes up at 7am...not counting her 11pm and 4:30am feedings. She likes to sleep with her monkey softee.
   
4. She love watching Baby Einstein MacDonald and will try to imitate all the animal sounds, including the rooster.
5. Maren is very huggable and loves to be cuddled. She loves stuffed animals.
   
6. Maren can say the following words: hi, dada, mama, ball (but says this while pointing to balls and other objects that are not balls), and baby.
   
7. She likes to be chased. She'll scream and run away when you say, "I'm gonna get you!"
8. Maren loves books and will sit sweetly on your lap while you read to her. She will also turn the page when told.
9. Her favorite place to be is outside. If she can't be outside, the next best thing is looking out the window. Maren spends a large portion of her day playing behind the couch where she can look out the huge window into the back yard.
   
10. She does not like bananas or bubble bathes.
11. She can climb in and out of things (such as laundry baskets, cupboards and drawers). Maren is also great at climbing UP the stairs. We are still working on safetly climbing down and she is getting good at getting of the couch by herself.

We are so grateful you are part of our family. It is exciting to watching you grow and learn. We love you, Maren!

Beehive Bazaar is here again!

Yesterday, I was buying some oil for my sewing machine at the Cornwagon when I spotted some postcards for the Bazaar. Boy, am I excited! Also, thank you Chris for oiling my sewing machine...it runs like new again. (Note to self: changing needles and oiling machine on a regular basis really DOES keep machine running smoothly and also prevents scary quilting lady from gasping and scolding you for being so lazy.)

8 Years

I love you because you are...
supportive, funny, forgiving, a great provider, smart with money, strong, tall, a wonderful father, a good driver, punctual, sympathetic, a people person, happy, a good story teller, a guitar hero, a music lover, a worthy priesthood holder, patient, a good law mower, mr. fix-it, techy, responsible, a creative gift-giver, outdoorsy, a good student, intelligent, supportive of me as a stay-at-home mom, a good communicator, a good son and brother, (have) strong forearms, thoughtful, encouraging, a peacemaker, brave, not a complainer, sincere with your compliments, open to change, a cuddler...

I am glad you picked me!

My Chigurh babe

"Call it, friendo!" I have had a couple of comments about Chris's Halloween costume, so I guess I need to post a few pics. He was Anton Chigurh from the movie No Country for Old Men (a scary movie I do not recommend). He grabbed Grandma's old oxygen tank from the garage, bought a red tube and borrowed some gadget from my dad to fix to the end of the tube (it ended up looking pretty authentic and kind of freaked me out). I cut up a wig and Voila! We went to a Halloween party where upwards of two people actually "got it." Either way, Chris and I had a pretty good laugh putting it all together.
I was a witch. I know, boring.

A fond farewell

Maren and I want to say good-bye to the last of the fall leaves in our yard. We have huge trees in the front and back, which have allowed many hours of fun. Everyday we go out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather, get a little exercise and a lot of fresh air. I will miss watching Maren run and fall into a big pile. So, until next year...
Also wanted to share my new favorite CD. I like listening to hymns, but MoTab can get old. This is beautiful and fresh. I love it!

Happy Halloween

Darn! I am totally regretting that I never got a picture of Chris wearing his farmer overalls! He looked so cute with our chicken. Happy (belated) Halloween!