More birthday craziness

December 7th was Eva's real birthday and that evening my parents and my sister Melissa (with her kids of course) came over for cake and ice cream for Eva and Spencer. Spencer turned 1 on November 29th. Here is the only picture we have of him that day:

We attended Grandma Dee-Dee's funeral that day and this picture was taken at the cemetary.

Rubia (my friend that lives with us) and Sally (my friend who lives in Denver) were there to celebrate with us. Sally has a soft spot for Eva and Rubia has one for Spencer. It was great to have them with us.

Here is Spencer with Daddy and his birthday cake.

Spencer, of course, had no idea what to do what the candles so my nephew Dallin (Melissa's oldest) helped him! :)

I think he enjoyed his cake and ice cream! Happy birthday Spencer and Eva!

Birthday Madness!

On December 6th, we had Eva's friends birthday party - what craziness! We had 12 little 4 year olds running around our house for 1 hour and 1/2! It actually went quite well, but Eva was a little grumpy! So, we had birthday cake on the floor in the kitchen because . . . who wants that many four year olds eating chocolate cake with purple frosting on their cream colored carpet? :)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary! I can't believe it has been that long already - so much has happened since then. Adam is studying currently and I am collecting rent so we didn't get to go out tonight but we spent a couple of days in August up at Westgate because we knew we wouldn't be able to go anywhere in December because Eva's birthday is on Sunday and Spencer's was last weekend. It has been a great 5 years, bringing the greatest challenges I have ever faced and the greatest joy I have ever felt. Happy anniversary, Adam!

Grandma Dee-Dee

Adam's Grandma, Adelia Hall Rushforth, passed away peacefully on Saturday. I am very glad that she didn't suffer and that she is with her loved ones again. I am sad, however, for our loss. As I write this, I can't help but cry. I know that I wasn't related to her by blood but she treated me as if I were. I felt very loved and appreciated. I will miss her and I know Adam will too. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that if I am obedient I may see her again.

Thanks Grandma Dee-Dee, for all your love and support. I hope you are out dancing with Grandpa! :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I can't believe Halloween has come and gone! This year has gone by sooooo fast! Spencer will turn 1 this month! How insane is that? Here are some pictures from yesterday:

Rubia helped me get the kids ready. Spencer wasn't entirely thrilled with the big tiger head hood but he wore it anyway.

Rubia and the kids.

Spencer was escaping his custome so Princess Cinderella came to the rescue with her magic wand! Thank you Cindrella!

My little crawling tiger!

My beautiful little Princess Cinderella!

Eva and one of her best friends were Cinderella together!

Eva, showing off her stitches.

Daddy with the kids (right before we put them to bed).

Aren't they cute? We had a fun evening! We took the kids to the church parking lot and Daddy took Eva around trick or treating to the different cars in the parking lot and I passed out candy while I talked to my visiting teaching companion. It a lot of fun and Eva came home with a LOT of candy. She has been really good about not wanting to eat all of it in one sitting though, for which I am very grateful.

Insta-care

So I have been to the insta-care twice in the last two months! The first time was for my ankle that I sprained falling down my staircase. That was interesting because they did an x-ray to make sure it wasn't broken and they found that I had broken it sometime before but never knew. Funky but true. My second trip to the insta-care was tonight . . . . with little Eva when she split her chin open. She gave one good jump in the bathtub, slipped when she came back down and slammed her chin into the ledge of the tub. The force must of been enough to pull her skin hard enough and fast enough to rip it open. It was definitely going to need some help from a medical professional if I wanted to minimize the scaring and as you can imagine, I did. She now has 3 stitches in her chin and she was very good during the whole process. I hope it heals quickly! Adam nor I ever had to get stitches (other than for surgeries) so we were not expecting to deal with that so soon but Eva is a crazy monkey so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

Disneyland Post #2

Eva and I rode the Dumbo ride together! It was fun to be up in the air and the breeze was refreshing! :)

Eva and I were with my sister-in-law Michelle and her two youngest (except the one on the way) children, Amber and Brandon.

This one is a little blurry but here is Eva riding the carousel with her Grandma Rushforth. Grandma was such a trooper, dealing with all the trauma we caused her. I really appreciate all she did to make it a wonderful day for Eva.

Eva with her cousins Justin and Brandon in Toon Town.

Spencer sat in the stroller or was held all day. There was no where I could let him down to crawl and he was less than happy about that.

Cinderella's castle! This was after she threw up and we changed her clothes. Luckily, Michelle had an extra shirt that fit her! Thanks, Michelle! Eva slept in the stroller after she threw up so we carried Spencer. Here we are with Walt Disney close to main street.

Eva watching the Disney parade with Grandma.

Disneyland Post #1

I am so sorry we are so terribly slow at updating this blog but as most of you know, life gets insanely busy and I have to admit, blogging is the first thing to go when I run out of time.

Disneyland was crazy! We had a good time but it was WAY TOOOOOO HOT! I don't know for sure how hot but between 90 and 100. And for those of you who know me, I don't do that kind of weather! I did not arrive at Disneyland at the beginning of October, expecting it to be so hot. I had prepared for . . . um . . . colder weather. I even had umbrella's and sweaters and blankets for the kids in the bottom of the stroller but, as you can imagine, I didn't need any of that. I think I suffered heat exhaustion or something because I couldn't get cool enough and I got very dizzy and very cranky! I took a break and sat with Spencer in the shade and in the air conditioned baby care place on Main street. Spencer's face was all red and sweaty - poor guy! He was ready for the heat either. Even little Eva was hot! Because they are my children and they go or don't go where I go or don't go, they don't get in the hot sun all that much.

To top it all off, Eva went one too many times on the tea cups and threw up all over the tea cup, Grandpa, and the revolving floor of the ride so the closed the ride to clean it all up. We tried to go on Alice and Wonderland a little while after that and she threw up again - not as much as the first time, thank heavens.

Despite the unexpected events, we had a good time. Eva got to see Buzz Lightyear and ride all the cool rides. I enjoyed very much watching her face light up or her look of amazement. I believe her favorite ride was the Carousel but I could be mistaken.

As we entered the gate . . . the kids didn't want to stop for pictures . . .

Our first ride was Buzz Lightyear . . . it was really fun! I loved seeing Eva's face. This was her first time going to an amusement park with rides.

This is right before we got on Alice in Wonderland for the first time (before the tea cup incident).

Eva in front of the Mad Hatter's little door right outside the Alice in Wonderland ride. We put this monkey leash/backpack on her to keep her with us and it was a good thing we did or I would have lost her. She complained about it a little because I am sure it was hot but she wore it the whole time.

Isn't she beautiful? :)

Guess where we are going?

YEP, you guessed it . . . DISNEYLAND! Adam has to go to work and school but I am in the middle of making arrangements for Eva, Spencer and I to go to Disneyland in a week! YEAH! Wow - only a week away? I have a lot to do! Got to run - we will post some pictures when we get back and we will have loads of fun for you all! :)

Peaches . . . lots of peaches!

Last Thursday, my mom and I spent the whole day canning! I was a lot of fun and now I have LOTS of bottled peaches for winter. YEAH! My kitchen was quite the mess by the time we were done but I had a great time. Thanks mom, you're the greatest!

How can that be comfortable?

I have no idea how you can fall asleep like this but this is how Spencer fell asleep just 15 minutes ago. I was resting on the couch because I sprained my ankle Monday night and he was running around playing. He had gotten into a bag of stuff for him that my sister had sent down and he fell asleep in it. I just tried to transfer him to bed and feed him on the way but it didn't go over too well. :(

Spencer went to the doctor - finally

Spencer went to the doctor for his 9 month well child visit. He missed his 6 month one because we didn't have insurance.

Here are his stats:

Age: 9 and 1/2 months

Length: 28 1/4 . . . 25 %

Weight: 18.14 . . . 10%

Head Circ: 47 cm . . . 75%

So he has a huge head and is taller than he should be for his weight. That is pretty much what it comes down to! :) He is doing really well and looks very healthy. He didn't care too much for the shots and he has been quite miserable since. He woke up with a fever and in pain. Poor guy! He will get over it in a jiffy though!

E . . V . . A!

Eva has been attending pre-school and loving it! I am so excited for her and all that she gets to do and learn. Her teacher, Miss Cheryl, is a dear and Eva has so much fun in her class. Tonight, Eva was drawing after her bath: I asked her to draw her name since she had been learning to do that in pre-school (every day they come in and trace their name on a piece of paper). So she did. The top part (A V E) is her first attempt. Then I showed her that she had written it backwards and I wrote it for her the right way. Then she wrote it the correct way (down on the bottom right corner) - a few too many lines on the E but she did great! I am very proud of her!

WAY TO GO EVA!

Update on Adam, Eva and Spencer

So, for those of you who don't know, Adam got a job! YEAH! He started August 25th working at the blind center in SLC as their Technology Instructor. His work schedule is pretty rigorous right now. He is pretty busy with all that he is learning and doing. He also is attending the U of U doing his MBA. As you can imagine, we don't see him very much! We don't talk to him very much either so I don't really know much about work or school. His work schedule doesn't permit us to talk during the day and he can't talk while he is in class. We are so grateful for his job and we are excited for his future. I just hope that I make it through the next two years! I am tired already and it has only been two weeks :( I am amazed how much I can get done, though, so I know Heavenly Father is helping me. For that, I am immensely grateful! Eva started Preschool on Wednesday at a Spanish Pre-school here in Orem. I really wanted her to go to Cheryl Henrichsen's (the wife of our Bishop) pre-school but there wasn't any space for her. I felt like she needed to be there so I was praying that she would still get in. While she was at the spanish pre-school on Wednesday, Cheryl called to tell me that there was room for Eva! YEAH! So Eva started her second pre-school on Thursday. SHE LOVED IT! I had to go to work after I dropped her off so Melissa (my sister) picked her up and told me it was obviously she had a great time. It feels right to have her there. So she will attend both for this month since I already paid for both and we will see what to do next month.

Spencer is everywhere! I can't keep up with him. He rolls over (of course), crawls everywhere, sits up, pulls himself to standing, walks along furniture and . . . CLIMBS STAIRS! The last one is obviously the scariest for me! A week ago, he crawled up two stairs 3 or 4 times while I was at my friends house and yesterday he crawled up half a flight of stairs in my sister's house when I went to pick him up. He is determined to get somewhere and get their fast. He know reaches up when you go to pick him up - which mommy thinks is so adorable. We gave Spencer his first hair cut on Tuesday. He was looking a little shaggy and neglected so we cleaned that up. He screamed bloody murder the whole time so mommy and her friend Marie had an interesting time getting the haircut done but we were triumphant! :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Peek-a-boo!

Spencer likes to play peek-a-boo with my friend Marie. Here is the video. The other day, I put him in the crib so I could finish giving Eva a bath. I was headed out the door and took one look back just to make sure he was okay and watched him use the railing on the crib to stand up all by himself! Yeah! He is getting so mobile so fast. I don't think I'm ready for it.

Watch out world, here comes Spencer!

Spencer is all over the place! He had a few days of lifting himself on his hands and toes, ready to do pushups. Than he started putting one knee down and rocking. Then he started pushing himself with one straight leg then moving the other knee forward, reminiscent of Kwazimoto (spelling?). Now he is off to the races with a full fledged crawl and Mommy isn't ready for that! He is so excited about his new found freedom and Mommy likes to see him so excited.

I am fearing a little for his life though, now that Eva thinks he can move around like her. Yesterday, she was dragging him by his feet into her room so they could play together. He will learn quickly to be tough!

Aren't kids so adorable?

Emma

I just came home from watching the new movie about Emma Smith. I am in awe of her. She was such an amazing woman. The movie, in my opinion, was very well done. It increased my respect and reverence for her and all that she endured. I pray I will not be asked to lead such a life. I pray for just a tenth of her strength and nobility. She has left an amazing legacy for her children and all of us who learn of her. Such a beautiful name . . . Emma.

Spencer is eight months old!

Time is sure flying this year! Eva's first year went by a lot slower than Spencer's first year. I am busier this year than I was then so that might have something to do with but I swear the planet and the sun are rotating faster and faster every year. Spencer is now eight months old. He went to get him up for the day a few days ago and found him sitting up in his crib. Now that wouldn't be so spactacular if it weren't for the fact that I know no one helped him sit up because I was the first one to see him in about 12 hours. So he is now able to sit himself up and he is all over that. He is also getting up on his knees and working on the crawling thing. I am afraid I don't have much time left. Yesterday afternoon, as I fed him his lunch, the spoon scrapped along his bottom jaw and it felt differently . . . Spencer has his first little tooth! How fun! I will miss his toothless grin though. The only sign I had that he was teething was all the drool but he had been doing that for months. What a good little guy!

Today, Spencer was making a mess with his banana. He looked like he had eaten it all so I kept giving him more but really, he was playing like a chipmunk and hording it in his seat!

Pioneer Day

On Pioneer Day, we got together with my sister Melissa and her kids for a picnic and fun in the park. We went to the new Nielsen's Grove park in Orem and had a good time! Eva and Daddy played "get you". Spencer sat on the blanket and gummed up my keys.

Eva Update

Eva is such a pretty girl! I was watching her play yesterday and had a proud mama moment. I love her coloring! I think up ways to deter possible suitors, at least until she is 25! :) Here are a few pictures from yesterday.