a good day

We had a great day today. It was Mike's birthday and I'm super glad he was born. Here is a quick little video of Gracie saying "baby" and "hi." She points to babies everywhere and says "baby." She also points to herself in the mirror and says it. It's super cute. She will definitely be getting a cabbage patch kid for Christmas.

wow, another post

Well, we are having computer issues, but I figured out how to get some pictures on here, so you here you go. This past month has been pretty rough with me getting sick with one thing after another, so I've been pretty neglectful of a lot things, including this blog. But Halloween weekend was really fun. I turned 27 on Sunday and it was a great day. Here's a picture of me with my birthday sundae at IHOP.

Gracie was the cutest bumblebee ever! And we taught her how to say it...kind of. Mostly she just says "buh-bee" but it's so cute. She looked great in her costume and we took her around Trunk or Treat. She did not know what was going on, but Mikey and I have enjoyed her candy thus far. We only stayed at Trunk or Treat for about 15 minutes because it was like 10 degrees outside. Then we went over to Grandpa Dierlam's house to get toasty and have some treats.

Mikey and I went to the Morris' Halloween party. I'm a cat. Mikey is some sort of Greek god or something. We went to Blockbuster after the party and this girl said, "who are you, Jesus?" and Mikey said, "no, I'm a Roman, like Julius Caesar." Then she said, "what, Julia Caesar? You are a woman? haha!" And Mikey said, "No, Julius Caesar, he's a man." The girl was like, "no, that's a woman." Then we left. I am sad that the education system has failed this girl so badly.

And Gracie is growing up! She's still not walking independently, but she walks holding our hand all the time, so she's getting there. Meanwhile, she likes to point to babies and say, "baby." It's so cute. And it's funny when she points to herself in the mirror and says it. She also repeats a lot of things we say and it's weird to see her growing into a toddler!

I just think she looks so big in this picture with her cuteness and her pink Chucks. We love her a lot. She's high maintenance and a little whiny, but really, that's what I deserve after I acted at her age. Yikes. Sorry mom.
Alaska is getting cold. I am dreading winter. That's all.

Baaa....too long!

Ok, friends, sorry it's been so long since the last post.
We have had major computer problems and when I finally got this up and going ( we literally have 4 computers at our house), the pictures wouldn't upload to blogger. So here's a pictureless blog entry.

At the end of September Gracie flew down to Utah to visit John and Jen and to see lots of other people.
I was extremely worried about how Gracie would do on the flights as she definitely does not like to hold still or be confined in my lap for any amount of time. Well, she did great! The flight there was a red-eye so she slept the whole time- much to the relief of the elderly couple next to us. On the flight back we had a whole row to ourselves so she played for like 45 minutes then snuggled up in my lap and went to sleep. It turned those two flights were the least stressful part of the trip!

Gracie sort of had a hard time not knowing where we were or what was going on, so she was definitely not sleeping well. And our idea of having Evan and Gracie share a room--not so good. But I loved visiting with Jen and Evan. He is so stinkin cute! I was happy to see that he looks just as cute and snuggly in real life as he does on her blog. I'm grateful they let us crash their house even though we were kind of annoying and I got the flu the last two days. Booo. Jen kept us fed the whole time and was a great hostess! And it was way fun when my mom stayed with the babies so Jen and I could go snatch up some deals at the Park City outlets. Getting out of Alaska to do some real shopping is super fun.

I also went to my mission reunion. There weren't very many people there (shame on all of you for not showing up) but it was fun to catch up with the few people there I knew. And there was a girl there who just got home in February so I was able to ask her a lot of questions about people I new on Reunion and stuff. And Brad Kartchner came and visited me at John and Jen's when I was sick! Thanks Brad! It was so fun to catch up! The reunion sure did make me miss Mada something feirce. The Church is growing so much there and the reports that were given were great and encouraging.

I watched conference, but plan on watching it again on my computer as a 1-year-old is not very condusive to quiet conference time.

So we're home now and ready for Halloween! I'm going to be a cat (boring, I know) and G is a little bumble bee. I'm excited to take her out and get her some loot. But, hey, does anyone have any suggestions how to get this kid interested in walking? She is 14 months and is NOT interested. I know she's fully capable, she's just so good at crawling she doesn't care about walking. Hurry, friends, 'cause she's getting too heavy to be carried around all the time. Ok, pictures next time. I promise.

it's the little things

Today was a hard day.
Gracie has been snotty and stuffy for about a week now. Last night she was up off and on until about 1:30 with an almost blister-like diaper rash and congestion. Today she would not nap and was therefore grumpy and whiny for 90% of the day. It was frustration. There were a few moments of her crying in her crib and me crying in the family room praying for patience and for her little body to relax so she could rest.
It was a hard day.
I had to go to work tonight, which made the rest of the day even worse. When I got to work, there was a man standing behind the cashwrap leaning up against the counter. It was a little strange. I turned around and realized that he was special needs and that he was with the woman that I was currently helping at the register. She needed help finding a sweater so I walked over to the toddler boy sweaters to grab one for her. The special needs man followed me and when I turned around I said, "Hi there."
He said nothing but smiled and reached out to gently squeeze my wrist.
This small, seemingly insignificant gesture literally made my day. I was moved immensely by his touch. I can't imagine how the Lord works through these special people, but today, He knew I needed a little squeeze and this man was the one to come through.
It was a hard day.

E R you going to the mall later?

We spent 3 hours at the ER today. Can you see why? No, Mike is not crossing his fingers.

Yeah, 3 hours later, it was popped back into place and Mikey is now in a sound Vicodin induced sleep on the couch. Ouch.

The little g

Here is my sweet little g.

She may be a little high maintenance sometimes.

But this face makes it all worth it.

She's 1.
Can you stand it?

what we've been doing...

This morning I was on the phone with a friend from the ward when I realized, "G's been a little too quiet" and I found her with an entire 125 box of sandwich ziplocs surrounding her. Awesome.

Mikey has finished another season of softball. I'm a little relieved because now that's one less night that I have to find a babysitter or one more night we get to spend together! We are so proud of him. He's pretty much the best one on the team. (I'm not exaggerating. It's rec league).

G and I also went with some friends to a super cool indoor playground on base. G is getting so old! I can't believe it.

She loved this toy.

What a big girl! She's getting better with the walking thing. She holds our hands and has figured out how to move one foot at a time. I think she's going to walk pretty late on her own because she is so good at crawling. She's not really interested in walking anywhere yet.

And last, a teaser of her 1st birthday pictures. It was difficult to get some good ones because she kept crawling toward the camera to grab it. Anyway, how stinking cute is she? She did great in the pictures and I can't wait to get them all back.
Her one year stats: 22 lbs. 6 oz.
29.5 inches long.
And I HATED the appointment. I hated having to hold her in my lap as they did the finger prick. She kept looking up at me while she was crying like she was saying, "mommy, make it stop." Let's just say, by the end of the appointment, we were both pretty much in tears.