Cutest Girls Ever

Hazel

This is her Mary Poppin's Dress. She is obsessed with Mary Poppins right now. She goes around singing "supercallafradle - humm-di-diddle-die" and "chim-chim-cherry-do!"

Rocking Panther to sleep before bed. Each night she takes off Panther's wand, tirara, and shoes because "that's not comfortable" to sleep in:)

While I was in the shower the other day she packed up a bunch of my shoes, put on her "high heels" and told me she was going to church. (Notice, she still wears a skirt over her pajamas EVERY night)

Eliza

Here she is showing us how big she is by "drinking" from a straw. I love this little peanut!

Is this not the cutest smile you've ever seen?

Build-A-Bear Valentines

Back in December my mom and her twin sister had a "Pink Panther" themed birthday party. It was the first time they had celebrated their birthdays together in 30 years so it was a big deal and everyone had a blast. Sadly, we missed it because it was right before we moved out to Utah. For the occasion, my Dad decided to build my Mom a pink bear at Build-A-Bear and he named it Panther.

Once we moved out and Hazel saw the bear, she fell in love with it and wanted one too. My dad was all ready to pack her up right then and go build one. But in the interest of not totally spoiling her rotten I asked if they could wait for some event and it was decided that she could build one for Valentine's Day. So, Saturday we met my parents at the mall so they could get Hazel her Valentine's bear. Hazel was sooooooo excited because she has been looking forward to this for over a month. It was a big event to her and she determined she needed to wear her tiara for the occasion:)

Hazel built a pink bear just like Gram's and even named her Panther! Of course, she had to work in her favorite color so Panther has a purple dress. She also has a wand and a tiara so she can be a princess. My mom even caved at the end and got Hazel a cute little backpack to carry her in instead of just the house box. Hazel was in heaven and loved every minute of it.



While we were there my Dad decided Eliza should build a bear too. None of us expected that she would like it all that much but she LOVES her bear! She laughs and coos every time she sees it and then proceeds to slobber all over its nose:)


The girls had a great time, but I think my parents may have enjoyed it more! Thanks Mom and Dad for spoiling the girls. They LOVE their bears.

Blessings Flow

I don't know why it continues to amaze me how much the Lord blesses us and cares for us, but it does. As I mentioned in a previous post, we moved to Utah because we felt strongly that this is where the Lord wanted us. We felt assured that if we moved, things would work out and we would be taken care of.

Well, things are slowly starting to fall in to place here. That's not to say everything has worked itself out, but I have seen the Lord's hand in our lives. Blessings both large and small have been given. Some were blessings we'd hoped and prayed for (like Eliza getting accepted in to Shriner's Hospital for the follow up on her back) while others were very unexpected.

The biggest unexpected blessing has been that I found a job. Keep in mind, I wasn't even looking for a job. The plan when we moved was that I would be able to stay home with the girls, and I've been loving every minute of it. One day while they were napping I got online to take care of changing addresses related to my certification. I decided to look briefly at what ABA services are available here in Utah mostly out of curiosity. I had thought about looking for some very part time work just to keep my certification current, but that was all it was - a thought. However, I came across a company I was interested in learning more about and decided to call just so I could get more information.

Well, the next thing I knew I had an interview set up for the following day and they wanted me to email over my resume (which I hadn't even updated). I got off the phone, typed up a resume, sent it, and started calling people to ask if I could use them as references. The next day, the interview went great and I was hired on the spot.

The Lord led me to this job - pure and simple. It is literally the perfect job for me. If I had designed my dream job, this would be it. I am working for Utah Behavior Services. They essentially provide me with clients and I will work 6 hours a week with each client. Meanwhile, they take care of all of my insurance billing, liability insurance, taxes, supplies, curriculum, continuing education, etc, etc, etc. They also act as a support system where I can turn for help with a client if needed. I get to set my own schedule and do what I want with the client. It is literally all of the best parts of my old job (working one-on-one with the kiddos, seeing them improve, helping families) without any of the worst parts (all the management, report, paperwork stuff). I will be working with two kids which means I will only be working 12 hours a week. It will be just the right amount to keep me current, make some extra money, and also keep me sane:)

I am so grateful! It is a huge blessing for the family and has strengthened our faith that this is where we are supposed to be. It has also allowed us to rest assured that when the perfect job for Mike is available the Lord will lead him to it just as He led me to this job.

Speaking of blessings... they don't come any cuter than this one:)

Pictues, quotes, and so on....

Just a fun little post to catch up on some adorable pictures of both girls and quotes from Hazel. She seriously cracks me up! I am LOVING spending more time with these cuties!

First up, Hazel's quotes. I wish I could remember all of the cute things she's said in the past few days, but here is a good sample....

While I was swaddling Eliza for her nap Hazel asked "Are you going to wrap her up like a taco?"

One night I was lying down next to Hazel in her bed (she gets a few minutes of cuddle time before bed each night). She was WAY hyper so I was pretending to be asleep and "snoring" so she would stop talking and calm down. Well she said "Mom! Stop singing the sleep song!"

My cute aunt Holly came to visit us the other day and brought Hazel a box of fruit snacks - which she loved. A few days later when they we nearly gone she said in her bedtime prayer "Bless Holly to bring me more fruit snacks." Too cute!

One morning she wanted me to bring the piano bench over by the couch. She was being good while I tried to clean so I obliged. She told me "I need to work on something." This is how I found her...

Some of the sweetest things she has said lately have revolved around the temple. She has recently loved temples and thinks all the castles in movies like Cinderella are temples. One day she told us, "I'm going to build a temple." And she did....
Since then we've been finding "temples" all over the house. She also frequently talks about how when she grows up she's going to get married in the temple. One day she said, "And when I grow up and get married in the temple there will be bells!" I wasn't sure where she got that until I saw the end of Cinderella when the run out of the castle as the bells ring. Haha!

The next one had three adults laughing their heads off.... At dinner one night I was feeding Eliza her baby food. As Hazel frequently does when she wants my attention off of Eliza and back on her she said "Her doesn't want to eat." I replied "Really? Did she tell you that?" Hazel "Yes!" Me "Oh, what did she say?" Hazel "Ah bababa ahah" Just thinking about it makes me laugh because she said it with a completely straight face too:)

Last but not least was one of those moments that make all of your hard work worth it. When Hazel was a year old we started reading 10 verses of the Book of Mormon to her everyday. Normally she is playing all over our bed, whining because she wants to hold the scriptures, singing, dancing, goofing off, running out of the room to find fill-in-the-blank object, etc, etc, etc. Needless to say I didn't think she was paying attention. Well, the other day Mike's sister Alicia asked her what she learned from the scriptures that morning and Hazel said "Ammon" with perfect pronunciation. My jaw literally dropped. We had just finished the series of chapters in Alma about Ammon's mission to the Lamenites. It was such a testimony builder to me about the importance of doing all those things (prayer, FHE, family scripture study, etc) that we're told to do with our children. They really do learn more than we will ever know during those times.

She's growing in to such a funny, sweet little lady. This picture makes me want to cry because she looks so grown up. She'll be starting school before I know it.


Now on to Little E. My dad starting calling her little E because he has always called Hazel little H (my brother Harrison is big H). Anyways, it's sort of stuck and so Eliza is sometimes Little E. She has been "talking" up a storm lately with lots of "bababa" "ahh ahh" and "dada" (Mike's thrilled about that of course). She's super cute!
Eliza has also been loving food more than Hazel ever did at this age. When you feed her something she likes she makes a cute squeel then opens her mouth like a little bird for more. She's even signed "more" twice!


Here are just some cute pictures of the two of them together.... Playing in the snow.
Showing off their Canada shirts for Uncle Harrison!
I LOVE this picture. It looks like they are sharing a secret with eachother. I hope they grow up to be good friends.

Christmas 2011

It's about time I got around to Christmas. Part of the delay has been pictures...

The week before Christmas Mike drove one of our cars out to Utah, spent a day looking for jobs, then flew home. Sadly, the camera stayed in Utah which meant all of our Christmas pictures were taken on his iPOD Touch. I've been wanting to get them on the computer even though they aren't the greatest, but I haven't and I finally stopped caring. So without any pictures to show you how cute the girls looked on Christmas eve in their red outfits or how excited Hazel was about her presents here's our Christmas...

This is the first year that Hazel understood about Christmas and Santa and she was so excited. I wanted it to still be a special day despite the fact we were moving 3 days after Christmas. So, I insisted we set up a small tree and decorate even though everything else in our house was in boxes. This was our first year celebrating Christmas without any family so we were able to start some of our own traditions, play Santa and fill the stockings, etc. It was absolutely wonderful! Eliza enjoyed the lights and bows and was adorable throughout the day. But it was Hazel's reactions that truly made our Christmas.

On Christmas morning Hazel was thrilled to see that Santa came! As we were opening stockings she asked me "Who gave me this present?" so I told her "Santa." She followed with her typical response of "Why?" We were then able to explain to her that Christmas was a time to celebrate Christ's birth and that Santa's gifts helped us remember the gift God had given the world. It was such a sweet conversation and I could tell she understood it. We then got ready for Church where Hazel and Eliza both loved every minute of the Christmas program and songs. When we got home we went to unwrap presents and Hazel was amazed that there were more presents for her (she would have been completely satisfied with just her stocking). She said "There are more presents?"

That reaction from my sweet little girl touched me so much and remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. By many standards we had a very small Christmas. Each of the girls got only a few small gifts from us and one small gift from Santa. Not a lot of money was spent as we knew we were moving and didn't yet have a job. To be honest, I wished we could have done more. But Hazel showed only gratitude for what she received and never once thought about wanting more. I LOVED how from the moment we began opening stockings she was more focused on Christ than the number of presents Santa brought her. I LOVED how she was so thankful for everything she received. I LOVED how she helped Eliza open her presents was willing to share her new toys with her. I LOVED the Spirit she brought to our home on Christmas morning. Most of all, I LOVED how she reminded me of what Christmas is really about. It isn't about presents or trees or fancy food although all of those things are nice. It's really about remembering our Savior and the gift He gave us all.

It truly was the perfect Christmas (tiny tree, moving boxes and all). I hope that future Christmases can be a sweet.

Done, done, done!

Mike is officially done with his degree! It has been a long road, but I'm so proud of him for finishing. I'm not the only one either. Several of his professors were so impressed with his work, attitude, etc that they recommended him to the University press people. He was interviewed for an article for the school's website (which you can read here). Then the local newspaper got wind of the story and interviewed him again for this article. I feel both the articles are wonderful but I especially like the second article. Mike definitely deserves all the recognition for his hard work and dedication. He even got straight A's this last semester while taking care of the girls nearly full time! We are all so proud of you!

To celebrate his graduation Mike's Mom, brother TJ, Grandma, Grandpa, and step-Grandma all came in to town. It was fun to see everyone and celebrate. I even baked a turkey which turned out wonderfully if I do say so myself.

Sadly, this is the best picture we got of all of us on graduation day. It was crowded, the lighting was bad, Hazel was grumpy after missing her nap, etc, etc. (Oh and notice how Eliza doesn't have any tights or socks? That's because she had a blow out diaper in the middle of the ceremony which I changed with her in my lap since it was nearly impossible to get out of my seat without disrupting every one). Besides the diaper mishap, the ceremony was nice and thankfully fairly short. Afterwards, we celebrated at Texas Roadhouse - Mike's favorite. Not sure where Hazel went during picture time, but here are a few cute ones of Eliza.

Congratulations Mike! We are so proud of all of your hard work.
Bachelors of Arts in Communications
University of Colorado - Colorado Springs
December 2011.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

So I'm finally getting around to catching up some posts I missed starting with the most amazing guy's 29th birthday (which was over a month ago).

Anyways, it was a pretty low-key birthday because Mike was in the middle of finals. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Outback. One hillarious story from dinner.... When we got our salads Hazel saw the purple onions on top and was thrilled! Before we could even think about stopping her she had grabbed one and popped the whole thing in her mouth. Haha, she was much less thrilled with the taste. She was sticking out her tongue and trying to wipe it with both hands. We felt bad for her but I'll admit it, we laughed. HARD. It was a good lesson that not everything that is purple is wonderful:)

We also had some yummy cake at home. Hazel insisted that we wear "party hats" but the birthday boy declined since they were pink and purple. Eliza sure looked cute though. Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!

Six Months Old!

Eliza is 6 months old already! I know I say it every time, but I can't believe how fast time goes. She has such a sweet little personality that is shining through more and more each day. Here are a few tidbits about her now so I can look back and remember her at this age:
- She is a tiny little peanut and still wears size 1 diapers
- She has grown to LOVE her elephant lovey and won't sleep without it.
- She makes lots of cute deep throat noises when she is happy and has a cute, deep, belly laugh.
- She is obsessed with books. When I read to her and Hazel she sits mesmerized and will sit and look at/play with a book for a solid 10 minutes by herself.
- She also loves crinkling/shredding papers. I think she gets this from her Aunt Gabby:)
- She is starting to eat solids and has loved everything we've given her on the first try. I hope this means she'll be a good eater like Hazel.
- She loves having her picture taken and smiles every time she sees the camera. Looks like we might have another diva on our hands.
- Sleep wise she is not the best sleeper and had a hard time adjusting after our move. Since Mike's brother and sister live in the house too I can't just let her cry it out at 2 am, but I've picked up some good tips from my favorite sleep book (Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Seriously it's the best) and she's already starting to sleep better.
- She is still such a happy, go-with-the-flow little girl. She honestly never cries unless she's hungry or tired and she loves to just sit and watch everything around her.

As far as her back and neck are concerned, Eliza seems to be taking steps in the right direction. With physical therapy her neck is SO much better. She is turning it to both sides very well and will turn to the harder side and hold it for over a minute to look at something! She also learned to roll over from her tummy to her back just before she was 5 months old, started sitting at 5 1/2 months old, and is just now starting to roll from her back to her tummy (she has to be super motivated to do it though). At her last PT appointment the physical therapist was pretty sure she wouldn't have to continue PT in Utah. The neck is "nearly resolved" and the therapy won't really help her back. As for her back, it looks better to us, but it's hard to tell if it's actually better or if she is just stronger and hold herself upright. We will go for a follow up x-ray in a few months and that will tell us for sure.

We Made It

Well we are officially moved to Utah and all settled! It was a busy few weeks leading up to the move (hence the lack of blogging) and the packing/cleaning few days were down right exhausting. But overall the move went well. Probably the biggest disaster was Hazel getting car sick and throwing up all over everything during our drive out. Not fun to clean up. Thankfully someone had the wonderful idea to put a trash can on the side of the highway at the exit in the middle of no where. Whoever you are, bless you! I will be forever thankful:)

Right now we are living in the "Provo house" aka the house Mike's parent's bought for their students attending BYU/UVU. Mike was living in this house when we met and dated. His brother and sister are living here now but were nice enough to let us live here with them until Mike finds a job. It's a four-bedroom house so there's plenty of room. In fact, I'm quite enjoying having a house instead of an apartment.

There will be lots of catch up posts coming, but for now here is everything I've been loving about Utah so far: milk is 3 gallons for $5 at the Creamery, mint brownies, family, driving only 3 minutes to the temple, In-N-Out/Cafe Rio, and good snow. In Colorado Springs it seemed we only got icy snow that made the roads terrible but wasn't very good for playing in. Well, this morning we woke up to that perfect wet snow that doesn't do anything to the road but is perfect for playing. Hazel got a new coat/snow pants for Christmas so we suited up and headed out this morning. It was a blast!

Purple!!!

Purple is a word heard about 100 times a day in our house. Hazel has become obsessed with purple. If she had her way, everything in the world would be purple. Converstations like this are very common in our house - Me: "Hazel, what do you want for dinner?" Hazel: "Ummm, purple dinner!" or "Not that one! I want purple!" My personal favorite is when something isn't purple she will use/eat/wear it but not without reminding you "(Color) isn't my favorite. Purple is my favorite!"
She has a purple petticoat that Mike's mom gave her for her first birthday. If we let her she would wear it 24/7. As it is, she wears it to bed over her pj's every night. When we insist over tears that it's dirty and needs to be washed, she'll settle for wearing the purple tutu I made her. If that's dirty too she will pretend that other skirts are purple! It's cute to watch her growing up and forming her own opinions about things.

Here are the girls in their matching Christmas shirts from the North Pole. Of course Hazel is wearing her purple skirt, a purple necklace, and purple bow! Purple and red aren't my favorite combination of colors, but they look super cute anyways! I love how Hazel's holding Eliza's hand:)