Eden in the garden! She is 1

We are so thankful every day for our little miracle,happy,bouncy baby girl Eden. If there is one thing she loves, it's music, she could dance before she could walk! (video below) Another thing that we love so much about her is how much she loves everyone. All you have to do is say awwe and she will start snuggling with who ever is holding her. She came to us on February 6th, a true angel. Kit told me she was pregnant with Eden on Fathers day and when she arrived I thought my heart would burst with joy and love for her. Eden is our unique one. Big deep blue eyes, she was born in the states and she has such a distinctive personality that really sets her apart. It's amazing because we both want a lot of kids and when they come as sweet and special as these first 3 we know we can't stop so hopefully Heavenly Father will keep sending them to us!

Clay and Kim

Every wedding is beautiful and a reason to celebrate. An eternal family is beginning. A new team for righteousness and goodness. But my heart sang more than usual last Thursday afternoon for my cousin, Clay, and his beautiful Kim. It was a long road of extremely difficult challenges for Clay leading up to this great blessing, but he made it. Even though they had a professional photographer, I couldn't keep my amateur self from snapping a few fun moments from this day (Kev was unable to be the sharpshooter since he was still hobbling around on crutches). Clay is the son of my dad's brother Kelly, and his wife Becky, who ended her long battle with cancer just a few months ago. Clay is the brother of one sister, Andee....who is married to Spencer (with the cool glasses)....and they have the most adorable little boy, Mason, that Kevin and I couldn't get enough of.Clay is also the brother of Chet, who is married to Laura.......and they have 2 beautiful girls--Avery (modeling her dad's coat) and Ireland (who stayed home with Laura's parents).Clay is also the brother of Jake (far right closing his eyes against the cold :)........who is married to Cindy and they also have 2 beautiful girls--Taylor, who tried all day to stay warm in her mom's coat....

...and Aubrey, who is growing up way too fast!!!I loved watching all the fun these 3 cousins had together, even in the cold. And I also loved watching Taylor watch Kim... adorable.

Congratulations, Clay and Kim!

kicking back

Kevin had ankle surgery last Wednesday. Everything went well and the anticipated 75 minute surgery only took 45. Post-op, it has been a long week of hopping "like a bunny" (said Elle when she saw him trying to move around), painful crawling on all fours, and bruising the heels of his hands on his crutches. But it has also been a week of heavenly cuddle naps with his girls and appreciated extra help for me :). I've been able to run almost every day, I've had the car to make easy quick runs to the store alone or take the girls out, and the bottom line: everything and everyone is better when Kevin is around. Period. There's a reason some anonymous mom wrote the well-loved children's primary song.... "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home". He has his appointment tomorrow for a walking boot and then it's back to work and back to waiting for Daddy's homecoming each evening, glad as we can be.

A song for Ethan and Nolan

We were watching some old home videos and Ryn saw Thanksgiving of 2008 when we came home from France and were in Austin at the Park compound.
When she saw her little buddy (yeah right, little:), Ethan. She said, "Look there is Ethan, awe, I miss him." So cute so she wanted to send him a song. I tried to find Matt & Nat on facebook but, uh where are you guys? Even the Turtle is working facebook:) j/k
So without further ado, here is a song for Ethan! We love you guys!


Elle was watching this post and decided Nolan needed a song from her, so Nolan, this one's for you :)

January's smiles

"Mom, I got stuck!"

Jan. 1--Eden's crying woke Elle up early from her nap. Still half asleep, she stumbled out of her room, rubbing her eyes against the light, saying, "hey, Mom, does Eden need me?"

Jan. 3--Ryn and I were sword fighting, while Elle watched from her seat at the table. "Be careful so you don't get hurt," she warned. "Don't kill anyone!"

Jan. 5--Elle and Ryn were still eating their lunch and Elle asked Ryn, "Did you know that my mom and dad love me? They love me so much." Then she paused for confirmation from me, "Mom, does Daddy love me?" I assured her that he does and then she added this about him, "He's a handsome Daddy!"

Jan. 6--A little more stroking of Kev's ego :)....We were back to the sword fighting and Elle must have threatened that she would fight Dad when he got home, but Ryn flew to his rescue and defense. "Nobody can kill Daddy. He's strong. If you fight Dad, I'm going to fight you! I'm going to make a sword out of play dough and fight!"

Jan. 9--We were reviewing the story of the 3 Little Pigs and when we said that the Big Bad Wolf "gobbled that piggy (the ones who built their houses of straw and sticks) all up", Elle applied that story to her own experience. "You mean he gobbled it up like a big girl?"

Ryn and Elle had been coloring with some colored pencils that needed sharpening when they got down 'into the wood'. Elle was not satisfied with the sharpness of the one she was using and said, "Mom, this crayon is getting in the hood!"

Jan. 10--Elle: "I want to go up to heaven to give Heavenly Father and Jesus a hug. But I need help. I need an airplane."

Jan. 11--Still concerned with long distances, Elle was telling us that her family (Kev's sister and family) lives in "Her Megas" (Las Vegas)

This was a Monday and for Family Home Evening's game, we went to the library to watch some international folk dancers. Eden, our next little dancer, was really getting into it :)

Jan. 14--Ryn was cooking up some 'delicious lemonade cookies' in their play kitchen so I asked her for the recipe (I'm always up for a newer, better cookie :) ). For all of you cookie lovers, here it is: Watch out, Mrs. Fields!

"a tomato--just cook that first for 28 hours....

then lemonade, chocolate and also....syrup, ha!....

and Honey (their name for whoever is playing the child in their game of house--Elle, this time) is going to help me stirred it up with a spoon." Yummy!

That day I had been telling Ryn and Elle the things they did when they were Eden's age. Elle would do a very dramatic bow and Ryn walked around with skewered Legos on her index finger. Hours later Eden was unhappily screaming about something and Ryn asked, "Mommy, When I was Eden's age, did I scream like Eden?"

Jan. 15--We eat oatmeal with blueberries almost every morning for breakfast + one of Elle's 2 favorite colors is purple + she is always looking for some bit of style to admire= this compliment: "I like your purple lips, Ryn!"

Kev was telling Elle to get back in her chair at the table and her independent refusal, "No!", was quickly reprimanded by Ryn, who had risen to her knees on her chair. "Elle! You say, 'Yes, Sir!' when the King says something."

When Elle told us how scared she had been the night before of the "big green finger in [her] closet" we just thought it was a crazy nightmare...until we saw the fuzzy handle of her green purse peeking out from under the closet door :).

Jan. 17--Elle was assigning roles for everyone and I was supposed to be Grandma, but Ryn didn't know we were pretending. "She's not a grandma yet. Call her 'Mom'. Call her 'Old Mom Person.'"

Jan. 19--The ultimate tactic for staying up past bedtime: Elle came out of her room with her huge brown eyes and tiny little voice. "I want to do something really important. I want to learn how to speak en francais like you, Mom...and you, Dad."

Jan. 23--Driving in the car, Ryn's seat is back in the 3rd row so she can smile and sing and keep Eden happy in her car seat one row up. She stopped singing to tell me how cute Eden was, "Mom, I LOVE that smile!"

Then she stopped herself in the middle of telling Elle that what she was doing was wrong and said, "Wait...am I not in charge?"

Eden was taking steps behind her walker and Elle got all excited. "Great job, Mom, teaching her to walk!"

Jan. 24--Another compliment from style critic Elle: "Ryn, I LOVE your dance move. It's well done!"

Jan. 25--Here's one more killer soup recipe for Christa from Ryn. "Does anyone want some hot dog and water soup?"

It was bathroom cleaning day and Ryn kept coming in, wanting to help. "I don't want to play. I want to help you clean the toilet!" Two seconds later, Elle came in and repeated this plea word for word. Guess what, girls? I'll be reminding you of this post when you get a little older :)

We sat down to read a story with Ryn on one leg and Elle on my other and I just couldn't believe, once again, how lucky I am to be the mother of these girls. I squeezed them both and told them I loved them. They are sisters, so I guess finishing each other's sentences is normal, but this was too much for my already full heart. (Ryn) "We love..." (Elle) "...you, too, Mom."

Jan. 27--A little frustration with the lack of speed at the table (do we sense a recurring theme here?) started to come through in my voice. Elle's teary, "We don't want you to be mean. If you're mean, it makes us scared," snapped me back to where I and my tone of voice needed to be. I hope I never hear those words again. Not to excuse myself in any way from what Elle said, let me include a picture of me trying to make dinner on this day to provide a little context. Eden would cry the second I put her down or in her high chair, and Ryn and Elle wouldn't let go of my legs for about 30 minutes...oh, and I'm smiling because this was a re-creation of the scene after Kevin was home to help (and take the picture)

Jan. 30--On walks, Ryn often wants to push the stroller for me. It's big and heavy, she can't see over it, and I don't want to have to keep pulling it out of the grass and mud next to the sidewalks, so I try to help steer with one hand. She hates that. "Mom, I know how to stroller."

And one last exchange between my 2 princesses: R--I love Snow White. [sigh] E--She's a really good princess, huh?