12/6//

Evan Christensen spoke on his daughter Maisy, and how she still climbs on his/his wife's lap, and how they joked that it'll be embarrassing that she'll probably still be climbing on their laps when she's 16. I thought about how stubborn and arrogant we can get when we think we know more. But maybe sometimes we just need to crawl in His lap and ask for some help.

Also, I subbed in nursery again today (the younger class) and kiddos are just hilarious.

11/29//

so many good things this week. i'm glad i started taking notes on sundays again.

the main, unelaborated points:
-gratitude: things aren't just tools... we need to see the beauty in each object
-there are conditions: pray with a sincere heart, with real intent, with faith in Christ (moroni 10: 4-5)
-it's all in the Lord's timing
-fast. read. pray.

scarlett: 11 months old

CHEERS! I'M 11 MONTHS OLD!

• scarlett's personality shines through in these pictures: she's stubborn and silly and mobile and doesn't love pictures
• feeds herself with a spoon
• loves when I narrate to her
• follows me around for chores and gets upset if I walk too fast for her to follow
• loves the toy kitchen and to open and close its doors
• walking with furniture/shopping cart and standing for a few seconds on her own
• loves driving the cop car from amelia's room and playing with it's sirens
• has the stinkiest diapers and poops about 39023984 times a day
• still gets super cranky and I still feel super sad that I don't know what to do for her sometimes
• my singing calms her most of the time
• she's a mommy's girl through and through, but has been loving on her daddy more these days.
• has forgotten how to drink from a bottle again
• nurses about 5 times a day these days, doesn't seem to be weaning herself yet.
• loves bathtime and hates getting dressed.
• open mouth kisses and cuddles when she's shy, not a cuddler now that she can crawl (crying for days over here)
• loves to say "uh oh!" and "hi!" and "mama" and just jabbers
• throws mini (macro) tantrums where she throws her face on the ground and leaves her bum in the air. or shakes her whole body "NO NO NO" 
• gets frustrated when we bundle her in too many layers
• loves her lovey bear and sucks on his ears all night and drags it everywhere with her
• size 3 diapers, 9-12 months clothes, wears amelia's hand-me-downs (from when she was 18 months) like no big deal. I think she's slowing down in growth now that she's mobile though...

we love you forever scarlett macaw!

we all have it coming when scarlett starts walking and talking. amelia isn't going to know what to do with herself!

11/15//

oh man. i was asked to say the opening prayer in sunday school AND relief society today. again! i swear this has happened to me like 5 times! unfortunately i just wasn't in the mood. jeremy took scarlett home right after sacrament and i just wanted to sit in the back and be uplifted in some little way without participating. of course, we had to be social and get together in groups to "translate" verses from the timothy and titus books. which was reeeeeeeeally annoying for me, and i really just felt out of place all day. at the end of class, jamie said something that offered me some comfort. she described an activity in reader's digest, where there was a zoomed in picture and it would seem strange and bizarre, but the next page would be the picture in normal focus and perspective. she correlated this to our gospel, and how when we zoom in to one specific piece, say the new policy on children living with same-sex parents, it can be incredibly confusing. she encouraged us to step back and look at the whole picture, where we see the gospel as a whole, where repentance blesses us, and the atonement is crucial and families are forever and the holy ghost whispers promptings, and maybe He will better explain the little details in His own timing.

11/8//

"I can do all things through Christ." In this past week, I have felt saddened and uplifted by the church and by social media. There has been so much confusion for me, but for the time being, I feel at peace. I will just put my trust in Christ again.


ps. don't ever ask anyone if they're pregnant. just don't. she'll tell you if she wants to talk about it.

11/1//

Stake Conference is scary with young children, so we opted to visit the slc temple instead! We walked the grounds, visited both visitors' centers, and had good talks about baptism, the holy ghost, and getting married in the temple. I realize that reverence takes practice and we debated on whether or not we would skip out on conference. We felt the spirit so much on the temple grounds, and in the end, I'm so glad we followed this prompting and had this beautiful Sunday experience! This is my season to listen and teach as curiosity and growing minds are in full bloom. I'm blessed, and confident, and terrified for this responsibility.

PS. I'm so proud of these girls for just knowing what to do when a camera is pulled out. We practice every single day, so it's about time!

scarlett: 10 months old

This last month flew by. Scarlett is pulling herself up, cruising along furniture, crawling up stairs. My life is busy busy! Her feet are still tip-toed when she walks, but I've noticed improvement since we've started the stretches. Scarlett was sleeping through the night for the last month, but has lapsed back to 3-4 times a night feeding this last week (maybe there's some teething involved?). She's taking two naps a day, around 10 or 11 in the morning and then again with her sister at around 2-3 pm. Her three meals are varied, and though I've tried a similar diet as her sister's, it's been more tricky lately convincing her that nutritious is delicious. We're still nursing about 5-6 times a day, and have a tiny storage left in the freezer. Size 3 diapers, 9 months clothing are snug, and we're jumping right into 12 months nicely. Says, "ma ma," "da da," "hi," and "uh oh" all day long. Loves to explore and play with her big sis, is so curious about textures and sensory items, gives wet slobbery kisses right on the lips, to be tickled and thrown in the air, and her yummy cheerios. She gets so caught up in her discoveries that she jumps a mile when you call for her. She despises hats and bows, when we swipe through her mouth for foreign objects, and diaper and clothing changes. I love this sweet girl with all my heart!

We found Amelia in Scarlett's crib the other day during their naptime. Both girls just grinned up at me when I caught them-- BUSTED.

the week of halloween

well if this post isn't a photo dump, I'm not really sure what is.

These girls and their slides.

pumpkin point farms-- last patch of the season! I loved amelia's face on the tractor ride, and scarlett had so much fun "driving" with dad!

passed out in our bed... sneaky girl!

wheeler farm with melissa, ryan molly, and lainey. what a fun evening at one of our favorite fall places!

amelia and her dance class-- all the girls in costume for halloween. I love that millie girl is the only one that isn't a princess or a dress/tutu. she told me how pretty should thought their dresses were, and this was when I knew that she would pick her costume next year (hopefully she wasn't too bummed about being a turtle!)

I love this millie girl! and our mommy + millie time!

we took everett to storytime at the library to give his mom a break and I loved how they danced!

our ward halloween party is always a blast! I love how hard the young women and young men work to pull this off! the dunk-a-deacon was kinda lame, since we could see the steam coming off the water! (come ON, boys!) millie got to pick a treat to support girls' camp, and she picked a cupcake with vadar on it! HAHAHA. we left early for the girls' bedtime, but I'm sure we would have won the costume contest had we stayed! :)

screenshot of a video I took of amelia's preschool program. she was the sweetest! you know the song "1 little, 2 little, 3 little witches"? and how it ends with "high ho, halloween's here!" amelia's been practicing all month, singing "I know halloween's here!" I love her so much and I loved seeing her in her element and learning things from her teacher and friends.

pumpkin carving: amelia thought the guts were disgusting, but scarlett loved helping me! I had baby-duty so amelia and I both had simple designs. jeremy carved a creepy bat in record time, too! nights like these are the nights I feel so blessed for my family and just life in general.

froze our hineys off at cornbelly's on friday morning with a fun little preschool group (the girls had 3-4 layers on and were just fine, but I was shivering the whole time). we were the only souls there-- so fun to have the place to ourselves for a bit! amelia always loves the wooden playsets, both girls loved the corn pit, and I especially hate the corn maze at cornbelly's (so stressful to be lost with your kiddos!)! we were so lucky to be invited by michelle-- usually cornbelly's is so pricey! it was worth the $6 for such a fun morning with my babes!

 (scarlett girl loves her daddy!)

we love scheel's! they put on such a fun scavenger/trick-or-treating event for the community, and amelia was so excited to participate in the all the treats (not so much the trick of picking a bug out of slime, though!) and ride the ferris wheel with her kohen and "steal the ball" from the soccer player statue outside. so glad we got one last trick-or-treat practice in before the real deal!

apple-picking at ah-ma and ah-gong's on halloween!

holidays are so so so so much better with kiddos. this halloween made my heart so happy! amelia constantly makes us laugh and my heart swells to see her vivacious personality shine.

a few of my favorite memories:

-I told amelia we were approaching our bishop's house, and she told me, "this isn't the bishop's house! he lives at church!" he also had chairs along his driveway, a fire pit, and hot chocolate! we love the millers!

-so many people telling amelia to take extra candy because she was so cute!

-a man told amelia she could take an extra piece of candy between she had the best costume he had seen all night. she took the piece, and as she was walking away with me, she loudly/innocently says, "that guy is bald just like daddy!"

-seeing her friends along our trick-or-treat route. none of them were home when we went to their houses!

-said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" at every door (practice makes perfect), but didn't want to talk to anyone who asked her about her costume.

-whenever anyone said, "take an extra piece for your baby sister (most of the time they said brother...)" she would take one and put it in scarlett's bucket in the stroller basket for her. love my honest, sweet girl!

-scarlett yelling "uh oh!" all night long!

-we were spooked by a guy hiding in a coffin, and amelia kept saying "I didn't like that silly guy that was hiding and scared me!"

-we came home and watched a daniel tiger (it was the "thank you" episode, a perfect segway into our november holiday, yeah!?) in between passing out candy. amelia would yell out, "JUST WAIT, I'M COMING!!" to the trick-or-treaters as she ran up the hallway to great them.

we loved trick-or-treating and seeing all of our friends. we are so blessed to live in such a family-oriented community! It was amazing to see all the decorated homes and the dedicated parents and our streets filled with children. it takes a village, ya know!
xo