American Girl

Well the 4th of July has come and gone. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. I'm always a little sad when it is over. This year we didn't do too much, we can thank the pregnancy for that. But I think we still had a great weekend. Saturday we went over to Josh and Kim's and had a BBQ, and spent a great evening with them and their family. They have a daughter that is 11 months older than Piper and they played and got along really well with each other. Their daughter had some princess shoes, and Piper thought that this was great! For those of you that don't know, Piper LOVES shoes. And I mean LOVES. A couple of weeks ago grandma Hurst bought Piper some shoes and talk about excited. Anyways, Piper had fun playing over there and so did mom and dad. It is such a blessing to have good friends to share life with.

Sunday both Piper and I were sick. We had to stay home from church while poor Aaron braved our primary class by himself. Although I'm sure it went well because the kids love him. Last Sunday when Aaron was dropping Piper off at nursery and she was having her meltdown, the kids kept asking "Where is Brother Stringer?" concerned that he wouldn't be there. It really is so cute. I'm so lucky to have someone like him. He just takes things as they come and is so patient and understanding. I'm really grateful he is like this, especially recently, since some nights dinner doesn't consist of anything nice, and the house isn't exactly up to par some days.

Monday brought us lounging around, relaxing and enjoying each others company. Then mid-afternoon, we combined lunch and dinner and had a BBQ with some fantastic food. After food coma set in, we laid Piper down for a late nap and engrossed ourselves in episodes of 24 on Netflix. After Piper woke from her nap we went down to Sandy city to their festivities. There was food booths, craft booths, all sorts of fun things. Then they had their parade in the evening, which was kind of strange, I have never been to a parade in the evening. But it was a great success. Piper really enjoyed the parade and did a good job sticking by mom and dad.

At home.
Enjoying a snow cone while waiting for the parade to start.

Being a cute, silly girl!
One of my absolute favorite things was watching my daughters face light up during the parade. This isn't exactly a picture of her with that expression, but here she is waving to some veterans who were waving at her.

One of the best parts of the parade was a refueling jet that did a low fly by over the parade. It scared Piper the first time, but the second time she handled it better, giving a tentative laugh after it flew by. This is the plane flying away after its last fly by.

After all the festivities were over, we were all a little tired, at least I was! We were going to go home and cook some s'mores in our fire pit in the back yard, but it started to rain, so that let that out. The last fun of the day involved giving Piper her glow in the dark bracelets which she thought were pretty cool. She even wanted to share and made sure that mom had one too. So we settled down on the couch cuddling and admiring our glowing jewelry in the dark. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture of her and the bracelets, because she wouldn't quit looking at them long enough to get a picture.

All in all a fun weekend! It is great to celebrate Independence Day and to reflect on the kind of life that I have because of others actions and sacrifices. No country is perfect, but I am grateful to be born and raised here, with the kind of life that I have had because I am an American. What a great blessing!

Cowgirl Piper

Last weekend we took Piper to Thanksgiving Point to see their farm animals. We saw goats, Llamas, turkeys, chickens, peacocks, horses, cows, pigs, ducks and rabbits. Piper's favorite thing was riding a pony. She was so excited and thought it was awesome!

Trying to pet the Llama.

Not quite sure about the goat.


Then she sees the horses. "I want that!" Piper's exact words. Good thing Nina and Papa have horses she can ride when we visit, so we can say she can ride all the horses she wants at Nina's and Papa's.

The best part! What a blast!

Then it was time to pet some animals.....

As much as this little guy wanted to be pet, and try as I might, I could not get Piper to pet this adorable little Jersey calf. I think she knows from petting the calves at great grandma Penrod's house that cows lick. When I took her to Grandma Penrod's a couple of months ago a baby calf licked her and she did not like it. But then I held out my hand and let the cow lick me, and then she decided if mom was okay with the cow licking her, it must not be too bad. But I think she must remember, because she refused to pet this adorable calf.

Another funny thing, they had two peacocks that had their tails fanned out, but did she show any interest? No, she wanted to go back and watch the ugly chickens!!!

All in all a fun day at Thanksgiving Point. I am however very, very disappointed in how they keep their rabbits. Two of their rabbits were practically on deaths door. Most of the rabbits had severe eye infections and all of them were in bad health (I could tell by their poop) I was very frustrated and wanted to take them away, not that I could take any more rabbits. Two is definitely enough for me.

Tender Mercies

Okay, so I've been guilty of something awful this week - feeling a little bad/having my feelings hurt over something that I've come to realize maybe doesn't matter as much as I think it did. I woke up last night at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. In part due to my churning mind and the other part due to my crazy allergies (Thanks new batch of rabbit hay). I was frustrated as I contemplated things, tossing and turning, all the while wishing desperately I could go back to sleep. After I got my sneezing and burning eyes under control, at 5:30 I could hear my husband's soft even breathing, and then I had an epiphany, which I hope will last a long time. I had a voice in my head reminding me that I have ALL I NEED. I have an amazing husband, who for some reason loves me, even with all my bad habits and annoying personality traits. I have a beautiful, funny, smart and happy daughter. I have some people who, rain or shine I CAN rely on. I have my sister who I think is one of the most amazing people, EVER. She is so much of what I hope and strive to be. She is my hero. I have my brother who I know would be there in an instant if I needed him. He is so many things I wish I was. He has an easy ability to talk to anyone, I wish I was more like that, he is much less afraid than I am. I have a sister-in-law who lately I've come to rely on so much. She is so funny and easy to be around, and the more I'm around her, the more I love her and I'm so glad she is in my life. She is becoming a great and amazing friend. I have another friend who constantly amazes me. I spent the day with her. She is medicine for my soul. She is smart, witty, direct and upfront, kind and compassionate. She somehow always lifts me up, by doing what I don't really know. I wish she could always see herself the way I see her. I know she is in my life for a reason, she is one of my tender mercies. Laugh if you want, but I truly believe that Heavenly Father knew what a blessing she would be. I've only known her for a few years, but in those short years, she has quite literally been there for my lowest and most painful moments and my best, brightest and happiest experiences. She's been there, constant, stable, always reliable through the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. Somehow I do not think this co-incidence. As these thoughts replaced the negative ones, I felt the hugest peace washed over me and I soon drifted off to sleep.

Today I was with this friend and we had a crazy, silly day - just what I needed. We took our daughters swimming. For the record- I think I have a little fish on my hands. Piper LOVED it. I just feel bad I didn't get any pictures, I just didn't want to risk my camera getting stolen. Piper went down a couple of slides herself, with me at the bottom to catch her, and then we went down a big twirly slide that went around and around about four times. As Piper giggled and giggled going down the slide and then later grabbed my face and gave me a kiss, I just thought that was just about the greatest thing. It felt really good. After a crummy week of stupid things happening and not feeling well, today was such a breath of fresh air.

Family Fun

I really cannot believe that it has been over a year since I have blogged. I am going to try and do better so that I can have some kind of journal for what is going on in our lives. The last few months have been filled with family. I can't help but think of the song by Phil Vasssar "Just another day in paradise." Life has been full of small and maybe to some insignificant events, some good, some maybe not so good, but all in all they make up the fabric that is my life, and I wouldn't change that for anything. I often reflect at night when I go in to watch my daughter sleep, that even the simplest things in life, when my daughter gives me a kiss and hugs me tight, or her laugh and giggles are more meaningful to me than any other external reward I ever had. When all is said and done, my relationships with others is what I have, they are the things that are not replaceable in life. Things you can replace, people you cannot. The more I live the more I come to realize that is our relationships with others that sustains us. Fortunately, we both have great families, and we have spent the last few months seeing some of our family.

Piper and her Papa on the boat ride to Alcatraz

Piper and Aunt Andrea

Piper and great grandma Penrod


Piper with Mama Jane and Papa Doc

Piper and her cousin Paysen

One of my favorites: Piper and her Nina reading together. Piper is named after her, she is so lucky to have her for a grandma. Even though you can't see their faces, I love this picture, I just think it is so sweet.

Piper and her cousins dancing in their princess gear.

Piper may not realize it yet, but she has some awesome people in her life who will help her along her path. She has so much enjoyed visiting with her family and is quite the trooper. On our way back from visiting Aaron's mom she developed ear infections in both her ears, but handled that quite well considering.

Updates

This last month or so we have been pretty busy. We have had company several times and have had some family events. Aaron has been working at the Dannon Yogurt Factory in a temp position and he has been busy with this. Piper continues to grow unbelievably fast. Piper loves to "talk" and spends much of her day "talking" with me and her dad. It is so sweet. I am convinced she loves to hear the sound of her own voice, which this is fine by me. I talk to her a lot to try and encourage her to do the same.

A couple of weeks ago, I took Piper to her first trip to see great Grandma Penrod, a trip which has been way too long overdue. Grandma spends most of the month rotating between her daughters and only spends one week in Genola. We drove down a couple of days in a row to see Grandma Penrod. I love my grandma so much!! She is so special to me and I'm continually amazed by what kind of a person she is. I hope that I can be more like her. I was able to take a picture of her and Piper and also able to get a generational shot.

Piper and great grandma Penrod.

Four generations of Penrod women: Grandma Hurst, Grandma Penrod, Mommy and Piper.

Just hanging out at Grandma's.

Of course no trip to Grandma's is complete without a visit to see the baby calves. Grandpa was a dairy farmer, and growing up I loved to go and visit the calves and help feed them. Of course Piper isn't old enough to feed them, but it was fun to go out and see them.

Piper's First Christmas

A little late to be blogging about Christmas I know, but better late than never I guess. This year we had Christmas down in Arizona with the Stringer family and had a fabulous time. We had a lot of fun and it was so good to see everyone. Piper had a great first Christmas and she was able to meet her aunt Rachel, Mama Jane and Papa Doc and Pops.

Piper with Mama Jane and Papa Doc

Piper and Pops.

Mommy and Piper with some of Piper's loot.

Nina and Papa and their three grandkids (Piper, Sydney and Annika). I love this picture because it really captures Annika's outgoing and fearless personality. She was a real crack up this Christmas.

Joe and Lynn and their posterity: Aaron, Rachel, Lynn, Paul, Joe, Marjean, Piper, Annika, Sydney and Mikelle.

We had a great time. Thank you Lynn and Joe for the wonderful Christmas!

Piper's Blessing Day

So I guess I'm really doing a bad job about blogging... still! I don't know why it has been so hard to blog since I left Oregon but it is. Anyways, I guess that can be one of my 2010 New Year's Resolutions.

Piper is almost two months old, I really can't believe it!! She is such a beautiful and happy little baby! My life has changed so much and I couldn't be happier. I find so much joy and happiness in some of the simplest tasks now. I find so much happiness in giving Piper her baths which she loves, and feeding her when she looks up into my eyes and when she smiles when she toots. She cracks me up every day, and every day I wonder how I made it so long in life without her. Aaron is so sweet with her and is such a great dad. My love for him has grown so much as well. I remember on my wedding day I looked at him and thought that I didn't know how he could be any more attractive than he was that day, but I was wrong. When I see him with her and see the look in his eyes as he holds her, I think that he is more handsome than ever, and I think it is the sweetest sight in the world.

Sunday we blessed her and she looked so beautiful in her dress. She did have a diaper explosion in her dress and a little poop got on her dress, but it came out after a little scrubbing (thank heavens). It was a great day.