Baby Steps

I love little Frankenstein steps!

5 Years Ago Today

Five years ago I married my best friend. Life hasn't been perfect, but it has been an absolutely wonderful! We've come so far in just five years...

5 different jobs (3 to me, 2 for Michael)
4 homes in 2 different states
3 degrees or certificates (Justine - BS and BCaBA, Michael - BA)
2 beautiful daughters!
1 very happy family with one silly dog

I can't wait to see where we are in 5 more years! 

Today's Adventures...

After this video was filmed we tried for a solid half hour to get the other kernel out with no luck (blowing out, trying to make her sneeze, sucking it out with a straw, blub-syringe, etc, etc, etc) . I'd given up and decided to put Hazel to bed for the night then take her in to the doctor tomorrow. While brushing her teeth her nose was pretty running and she started tugging at it again. I look and the kernel had moved further out of her nostril than it had been so I had her blow her nose and out it came. Thank goodness! Check that one off the parenting adventures list:)

Uncle Harrison's Home!

 My cute little brother got home from his mission to Canada on Friday night! We had a wonderful weekend spending time with family and seeing Uncle H again.

 Here we are making a scene at the airport.

 Eliza loved Harrison instantly! 

 Hazel warmed up to him again really quickly too especially when she heard he had a present for her.

Saturday we took a short hike in Memory Grove park. There's an off leash dog park with little streams where Kiara was in heaven. Eliza saw the water and wanted to play so much I couldn't hold on to her. So we stripped her down and let her have at it.

 Princess Hazel making sure her "Belle dress" doesn't get wet:)

The best part of the weekend was hearing both of my parents and Harrison give wonderful talks during Sacrament today.  My mom shared some wonderful stories about charity. My dad spoke about missionaries as a treasure of the Lord and shared his own conversion story again. I have heard it before, but even I learned some new things today. His talk was very powerful and it was wonderful to see how much his testimony has grown in the past 5 years he has been a member. Harrison's talk was great as well. I love hearing missionaries speak when they get home and seeing how 2 years of service completely changes their lives. My favorite idea from his talk was something their mission president repeatedly told them: "The testimony you have today is not strong enough for the trials of tomorrow."

Fun weekend with an incredible family. What more could you ask for?

Any Guesses What I've Been Up To...

 If you guessed walking you're right! Eliza has been taking a few steps here and there for the past few days! Yesterday she stood up on her own and walked about six steps to her elephant. Of course, the very first day she started walking she took a major spill on the patio and banged up her face. After I took this picture her nose scabbed over pretty good. Then today she decided to pick the scab off...

Haha, yeah the band-aid lasted about 2 minutes before she started clawing her face trying to get it off. She's becoming such a big girl! (Well really a grown up girl. She's still so tiny! It's weird to see something so tiny walking around). She will be walking around like a pro at her birthday party that's for sure:)

Lovies

I know I've blogged about it before, but our girls are both obsessed with their lovies. Lately they been doing the cutest things with them so I had to record it for my own memories. 

Eliza loves her elephant lovie whom we call Ellie. She will NOT sleep without it under any circumstances. The other night she threw up all over her bed and on Ellie so I took it away and gave her one of our backup lovies. After and hour of crying I caved and let her sleep with the pukey Ellie.

She is also starting to say Ellie. It come out something like "ehe" but she very clearly uses that sound only for her lovie:)

Rescuing Ellie from the crib. 

The day she got her helmet off (posing with Ellie in the background)

Hazel is still wildly attached to Rafi. When she first started her purple phase she really liked one of our backup lovies (a purple butterfly). We were shocked and wondered if she would actually change her favorite lovie. But after about a week she was back to Rafi.

Recently she declared that Rafi's name had been changed to Rafi Rapunzel. And in case you were wondering, there is Rafi's head and the blanket part is her dress - No princess is complete without a dress:)

 

 Hazel and Rafi.

 Hazel was brave enough to go on this ride, but only if Rafi went with her.

BYU and Gonzaga vs. the Rain

Last Saturday we got tickets to the BYU v. Gonzaga baseball game and Alumi tailgate party before. The tailgate party was a blast. Balloons, stickers, Cosmo, J-Dawgs, etc kept the girls very entertained. Check out these cute little cougars!

 Just was we were about to head over to the stadium for the game it started pouring. A half hours of hiding in the car, about 2 inches of rain, and an hour rain delay later they started the game. By then we were all a bit damp and it was still raining on and off. Needless to say we only make it though about 2 1/2 innings of the game before the girls were too cold and we headed out. It was fun while it lasted but the final score of this game was Rain - 1, Ballards - 0.

Walkin' and Rindin'

 The other day the girls and I had a fun little walk up the street like this....

 Hazel riding on her bike,

and Eliza pushing the walker. Right as I snapped this picture was honestly the only time Eliza stopped smiling from ear to ear. She loves her walker and is so close to taking her first steps on her own!

No more helmet hair...

As of Friday all of Eliza's head measurements are within normal limits and she is done with her helmet! After 78 days of wearing it her head looks amazing. Check out the before and after pictures:

Before:

 After:

 From the profile pictures you can really see how the flattening on the back of her head was affecting her whole skull. See how far her ear is shifted forward in the before picture? 

Before:

 

After:

 

The adjustment to not wearing the helmet has almost been harder than the adjustment to wearing it. Since Eliza went from barely crawling when she got her helmet to now crawling, standing, and scooting along things she had become rather reckless. Why be careful when bonking your head doesn't hurt? So, she is slowly learning that she does actually need to watch her head haha.

Of princesses, glass slippers, and everyting girly...

 Hazel has hit the princess phase. It has been coming on for a while but now she is in full force. She literally believes she is a princess. And thanks to Cinderella she is obsessed with growing up and marrying the prince. She tells us, "When I grow up I will be taller then I can reach (the door) so I can get married in the temple!" and "There will be bells when I get married in the temple!" It's so cute! I'm glad that she has the part about getting married in the temple down:)

She has been asking about my wedding dress a lot so the other day I let her try it on. She was in heaven! She even put on the heals and successfully walked around for a few minutes. I was impressed.

Two more cute princess quotes...

Hazel has been pretending a pink comb is her magic wand when she is the fairy godmother. Well the other day we were stuck in major traffic and I was annoyed. She took out her comb and said, "I will make these cars move. Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo!"

One night Hazel kept talking about her favortie princess (which changed from minute to minute). Mike's sister Alicia asked her "Who is your favorite prince?" to which she replied "Daddy!!!" Good answer Hazel. Good answer!