Idaho, and then some...

This month we had the fun opportunity to drive to Twin Falls, ID to see Kris's family. We thought about flying...but decided to road trip it! I'm so glad we did, because, even despite all the STUFF that happened on our way there, we had so much fun together as a family. On our list of STUFF that happened...it started in Globe, when we stopped at Jack in the Box to get breakfast. I had Annie, plus her breakfast, plus my cup of water, in my hands when I slipped on some water and went crashing down. I fell pretty hard to my right side, cause I was trying to keep her from hitting the floor. Hello, black knee! The next morning - Sunday - the day started off with Annie throwing up 3 days of food (I swear!) all over the car. Thankfully, we were still in Page, just on our way to get gas. I can't imagine how much more awful it would've been if we were in the middle of nowhere! Tender mercies, right? We made it to Ogden, with the smell of strawberry vomit all through our car.

In Ogden, we stayed with my friend Tristen and her family. I knew Tristen when I was still in Tucson...she's one of my favorite friends! We had lots of fun catching up with her and her mom...and washing out Annie's carseat and our car!:)

On Monday morning we got up bright and early to head down to Riverton. I had to fight Kris on it, but I wanted to pay a visit to my high school seminary teacher, Bro. Dunford. Kris was SO glad he got to meet him, though. We had an awesome time chatting with him and catching up. After we left there, Kris talked non-stop about all the things he learned about me during our short visit. They've also challenged me to start writing more...hopefully soon I'll get my own blog started up with all my viewpoints on...well, everything!:)
After we left Riverton, we headed up to the U to see my financial aid friends (sorry, no pictures!). On the way there, Annie got CRAZY diarrhea. Just one more STUFF!

We ate lunch at Crown Burger (yummy...we miss that!) and then headed off to Twin Falls, to surprise Kris's family. Mom didn't know we were coming early...she expected us on Tuesday, and was watching Eric's kids for the day. We showed up at their house, where David answered the door and Kris pretended to be (an angry) Jehovah's Witness. That was SO much fun! We were glad to get to Idaho and not have to be in the car anymore (especially Annie!).

Tuesday night we all went out to Miracle Hot Springs to go swimming. Annie loves to swim and she splashed and played with everybody.

Wednesday morning we woke up to Annie hacking in her bed. She spent the rest of the morning throwing up and feeling icky. That night we thought she was doing better and I tried to give her dinner. Needless to say...it didn't last long! Since we weren't home, and didn't really know what to do, since she's never been sick, we took her to the ER. They said it was just a stomach bug and gave her some anti-nausea medicine. After 30 minutes, the nurse came in with a popsicle for her. Annie got so mad at it! She wanted it, but she wanted to hold it. A one year old should NOT be holding their own popsicles!:) She threw it on the floor.

After that, Kris got sick. Then Amy and Sophia. Then me. Then Les.

When Annie was feeling better, she got to eat Grandma's rolls!

She's just like her dad...they're her favorite!

Saturday we dressed Miss Annie and Miss Sophia up in their matching outfits and bows. Sophie was pretty pooped and had a hard time staying awake to get a picture. This one is my favorite.

Saturday night we had a birthday party for Annie and me. Annie got to wear Lianna's tiara and be princess for part of the night!

She got a "See & Say" from Uncle David and Aunt Amy, plus some little toys from Aunt Julie.

I got lots of fun stuff, too (thanks everybody!), but one of my most favorite gifts was from Karryn. At the beginning of the week we were sitting around talking about her marble rolling pin and how we wanted it when she died (we know it's a long way off!). She brought out a big bad with the rolling pin, stand and one of her big cutting boards! It made my night...I can't wait to use it!

Annie and I blowing out our candles (28 for me, 1 for her)...

We had a really fun time visiting our family. We took these pictures before we left on Monday morning.

Grandpa and Grandma with Annie

David, Les, Karryn and Kris (thanks David for coming SO early to help us load up the car!)

And then she slept...

Great Quote

I just read the best quotes from Pres. Hinckley and his wife, and wanted to share them. Okay, truthfully, I didn't have anywhere to write them down and thought this was as good a place as any!:)

“You have always given me wings to fly, and I have loved you for it.”
Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

"Yes, let her fly! Let her develop her own talents. Let her do things her way. Get out of her way, and marvel at what she does."
Gordon B. Hinckley

Annie's 1st Birthday

The doctor confirmed it...we survived a year with a baby! I knew we could do it! Annie celebrated her first birthday this week. I took the day off work so we could go to the doctor and then play all day. Annie is weighing in at 22 lbs. 13 oz. and is 30 1/2 in. tall. She's in the 75th percentile for her weight and the 90th percentile for her height. She'll tower over all the kids in nursery when she starts going this summer!

Annie's got crawling down to a T! She's so fast, sometimes I'm surprised I can catch her! She is cruising all over the furniture, and stands up at the walls and doors (especially if she's been shut out!). She laughs at lots of different things: her glowworm, Dad, being tickled on her belly, Bobo, being forward-facing in her carseat. She says "Mama," "Dad" and "Baby." Sometimes if you catch her in the right mood, she'll even say "Don't." She's working on lots of different consonants and one of these days will probably just start saying all kinds of words!

To celebrate, we had cake and ice cream at our house, with Grandpa.

For her birthday, Annie got some new clothes, books and toys. Her favorites so far have been the bath mitts Grandma Karryn sent to her. She's hauled them all over the house in her mouth, in her fist and under her arm. She also got a balloon from Grandma Vesta that is just the bane of her existence! She loves the ribbon, but yells at the balloon. And if the balloon comes near her...she screams!

We did a little photo shoot at Craig & Bethany's house when we were there a couple weeks ago. These are some of my favorites.

S is for Silly

With the exception of teething and sippy-cup drama, our house has been pretty mellow since Christmas. I don't even have much to blog about, but Annie has been hilarious the past week (since she got over some teething issues and made a stand about sippy-cups!), so I wanted to post some pictures and a couple videos of her.

She has two paci's and one day, she got ahold of both of them. Apparently, she couldn't decide which one was the right one...

Her new favorite thing to do is to run around the house with Kris. She giggles every time...and it's the surest way to make her stop crying!

And my favorite pictures of the week...

Fish Face

One day we were eating lunch when Annie - all on her own, with no encouragement from anybody - started making fish faces. She does it spontaneously, while she's playing and toddling around the furniture. It's hysterical and she's so proud of herself. We got video of the first time she was doing it (sorry its wobbly...I was cracking up!) She still won't do it long enough for me to take a picture of her, though!

Christmas, Part 2

We had a great Christmas at our house! I was the only one to get up early (I was too excited to sleep any longer!) so I had to lounge around and wait for Kris and Annie to get up. Kris had to work till late the night before, so he was pretty tired. And Annie...well, she didn't know there was anything different about Christmas day, than any other day.:)
Here's Annie in her (last-minute) Christmas jammies. I had a hard time finding her size...so these are about 2 sizes too big. She can't crawl in them, or her legs end up coming out of the leg of the pajamas.

Annie got lots of fun things. She got a Ball Popper from Santa, and then some Little People, a V-Tech ball (it's crazy...it rolls by itself), and another ball (she LOVES balls!). Grandma Hunter sent her a Winnie the Pooh Christmas ornament. Of course, the wrapping paper and bows were the greatest part of Christmas for Miss Annie...but that's to be expected!

Kris got a Boise State Football shirt, which he has proudly worn just about every day since Christmas. Bring on the Fiesta Bowl!

Christmas, Part 1

Since we got our tree out of the box and ready to put up, I'm suprised at how helpful Annie is! She wanted to help put up the tree with Mom and Dad. Okay, maybe not help. But she was right in the middle of it all!


She does love to help wrap presents. I'm really looking forward to Christmas morning when I don't have to take the wrapping paper away from her. Guess how many rolls of it she's destroyed...:)



We had our Ward Christmas Party 2 weekends ago. Unfortunately, Kris had to work, so Annie and I were flying solo! Annie was excited to go. She got to play at Grandma Vesta's house while I went to the church to help set up (Hail the Conquering Activities Committee!). She had lots of fun there, she helped to un-decorate the Christmas tree (okay, maybe that wasn't so much "help" as just being a nuisance), taking out the trash (again with the nuisance...), and folding laundry (that's help!).


This year, we had a soup dinner (yum!) and a short program, followed by Santa, of course! Annie loved to watch the Primary kids up on the stage. I was suprised at how well-behaved she was for the whole program! Unfortunately...she did not love Santa.

One of our favorite Christmas activities is to decorate cookies and take plates of treats to our neighbors. Annie helped with that, too!

This is my favorite picture...after a long afternoon of frosting cookies (note that we had to change her shirt...pink frosting on yellow? Thank you Oxyclean!), Annie was exhausted.