Proof That The Hospital Handed Us The Right Baby

She was really liking those angel hair noodles last night. What greater proof is there that she's Stephen's girl? Between pasta, corn and peas, she was kept busy all meal long and Daddy and Mommy where able to eat in peace.


And, despite the look, she appears to like dill pickles, which is proof she's mine!!!! She gnawed away on that pickle for quite some times the other day. :-)

The Great Outdoors!

Garden Fun

Over Friday and Saturday, Stephen rented a rotter tiller and started tilling up parts of our back yard for our vegetable garden! We've got quite a few things either planted in the garden already, or planted in little seedling starters, which we'll hopefully transplant soon. It's been so fun to be out in the beautiful weather working on a project together. Clara's been enjoying playing in the outdoors as well!

The first two pictures are taken from different sides of the yard, giving you an idea of what it's like. The next two are a couple cute shots of Clara watching her Daddy work. Enjoy!

The Park!!!

Several days ago, my friend, Karen, and I took our little girls to the park. Here are some cute pictures!

Long Time, No Post

Yes, I know, I have sadly neglected my blog of late. However, what has been does not need to continue to be. :-)

Stephen made it back here, safe and sound on the 22nd of March and Clara and I arrived a few days later. Unfortunately, Clara didn't seem to remember her Daddy after 3 and a half weeks of being away. However, it didn't take her long to warm back up, thankfully! She and Daddy are great friends, once again!

Clara and I had such a wonderful time with the family while Stephen was gone and we have already been missing them!!! Thank you family, for all you did to make our time so special!!! We love you! And thanks to Grant and Corinne, we might be back there before too long!

It was also so special to see Stephen again after so long! I really missed him!!!! Who could not miss that guy????!!!!!! I'm so very blessed to be his wife!

Life has been very full since getting back as we settle back in, get together with friends again, run errands, get vegetable and flower seeds started, do more organizing at home, and take part in a week of special meetings at the chapel with a guest speaker (which have been fabulous, by the way!).

Clara has been changing and developing so much. Stephen says I took away a 9 month old and brought home a 3 year old. He saw a difference in her level of understanding and confidence. She is definitely a mover and a shaker!!! The next 20 years shouldn't be boring with that one around!!! :-) She loves to play goofy games with mom or dad. And we love to hear her laugh. She has started waving and there have been a couple times where it sounded like she said "Ba ba" or something like that, along with the wave. Also, when she's not happy and is coming crawling toward me, I often hear a long string of "ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma..." We're not sure if it's purposeful or not, but it's pretty cute. She had her first molar pop through shortly after getting home. That makes nine teeth all together. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, Clara started taking her first "on-her-own" steps while we were in California! She hasn't started running here and there yet, but is still taking a step here and there on her own. She's a very confident little cruiser though, and bustles around holding onto things. And, oh so many tumbles are had during the day... and so many bruises to show for it. She sure is a precious little ray of sunshine and such a blessing from the Lord Jesus Christ!

Ahhh the Memories!

More fun shots from our time here with the family!

Steps!!!

Clara took 2 or 3 pretty good steps on her own today!!! Yay!!! She's had a few other times where she's sort of taken little things that look like on-your-own steps! Gonna be running all over pretty soon. She'll MAKE her momma loose the rest of those pounds!

Fun Times!

Here are some fun pictures from the last while:

Music "lessons" with Grandpa and Uncle Randy!


Lookin' Happy!


Who says people can't fly... at least when you have an Uncle Randy!

Sister Pictures!

About a year ago, when we were last all together, my sisters and I had fun getting all fixed up and taking sister pictures. Well, yesterday we had fun doing the same thing! My Mom took us to the park and patiently snapped pictures of us. Clara put up with it nicely, and even got to be in a few herself. Her Uncle Josh road his bike over and played with her some! Here are a few from the day:




Grandma!!!!!

Clara and her Aunts!




My eyes are closed in this one, but it's a way too cute picture of Clara not to include!

Special Moments

Moments from the visit thus far:

Time with Grandpa.

What a character!

Still makin' faces.

Fun with Auntie Anna

Shall we dance?

A precous moment captured by Aunt "Melly"

Sweet and Sour

Sweet and sour. That is what Clara and I are getting right now. We are enjoy the very big treat of being in California visiting my family and friends for almost a month!!! And we are having a very nice time so far! I didn't say anything about the up comping trip on the blog because we wanted to surprise some people. It's been a treat to get to introduce my little one to friends and family and enjoy spending time with them! It's almost exactly a year since I was last here.

And what is the sour part, you may ask? Well, that while we enjoy this treat we must also be away from our Daddy and Hubby for all that time! Stephen is doing Marine Corps reserve duty right now. So, although we're going to really miss him, we are very proud of him! I guess Clara doesn't know enough to be proud, but one day she will!!!!!! For right now she's probably wondering where on earth he is!!! She loves him so much!

A Good Reminder

Yesterday, on the radio, I was reminded of this truth that I've heard before. Basically, here it is in my own words:

There are many things in life we have to say "no" to. Most of us know that, for there are many things that we realize are down right bad and we must completely shut the door on them. However, do we remember that there are also GOOD things that we must often say "no" to? Why must we say "no" to good things? So we can say "yes" to BETTER things. And not only that, but there are also BETTER things that we must say "no" to. Again, why? So we can say "yes" to the BEST things!!!