the festival of tulips

when does something become a tradition? well, this is our third straight year of going to the thanksgiving point tulip festival, so we're going to call it one of our first family traditions. after a long and cold winter, we always welcome the opportunity to get out of the house, enjoy some warmer weather, and check out some pretty scenery at these beautiful gardens.

everett loved being outside, but we've discovered that he really doesn't like grass. whenever we put him down he would kinda freak out a little. hope he gets over that quickly. for the most part, claire was pretty unimpressed by the flowers, but boy, she sure did love the fish and ducks. and she was so helpful reading the map and being our little navigator around the gardens.

for the most part, it was a nice and quiet walk, but we do have one humorous story to tell: while we were enjoying the peaceful fountains in the italian garden area, we noticed another little boy enjoying the fountains as well. it seems that he must have really enjoyed them because while we were posing for a picture, we hear a big splash behind us. we turn to see the little boy had fallen completely into the fountains. they weren't too deep so the kid didn't need any help, but he did get completely soaked, and he was obviously very embarrassed. he got out of the fountains without saying a word to us and slowly walked away. call us cold-hearted, but we couldn't help but laugh a little once he was gone. this is claire watching the soaking boy walk away. :)

the rest of the day was spent checking out some more scenery, dancing at the amphitheater, looking over the waterfalls, playing some music, hiding in tunnels, and lots of walking. but we of course made sure to have fun and stop and smell the... tulips. :)

Goodbye Mom and Dad

I'm a little behind on posts so this will be short and sweet. A couple weeks ago, my mom and dad left to go serve a mission at the Nauvoo temple. They were sooo excited and I'm so happy for them. They will definitely be missed around here though. They bore their testimonies that Sunday and were set apart at home that afternoon. We had a big going away dinner and get together for them that evening. We enjoyed seeing family and spending time with everyone. :)

Love you Mom and Dad!

stake basketball

i would argue that few moments in life are scarier (at least to an active latter-day saint) than receiving a phone call from the stake president about getting a calling. maybe it's just me. i suppose that i'm just a touch too shy. any calling is going to cause me a little bit of anxiety, especially one on the stake level. so i found myself driving to the stake offices, feeling much like a little boy called to the principle's office, not quite sure what i did wrong. why me?! i am ever so thankful that i was given probably the one calling i feel halfway qualified for: stake physical activity director. in other words, the sports guy. and the first sport that was immediately put on my calendar was basketball.

growing up in texas, i never had the opportunity to play church ball, but i had heard plenty of horror stories from the missionaries who came from utah. i was told countless tales of brutal play, dirty tactics, naughty words spoken, and ridiculous fights. i can't truthfully say i believed all the stories. this is the gospel of peace after all. the church wouldn't endorse something so contentious, right? i suppose i am thankful that i had forgotten all those stories or i might not have immediately accepted my calling.

so, in my blissful ignorance, i got to work. i quickly contacted all nine wards, reserved the gym, got a schedule made, and the season was soon underway. for the most part, it has been a good season. it definitely has had its ups and downs. i've gotten to get to know tons of new people in the stake. unfortunately the people i have come to know the best are the hotheads who i have to either pull aside and tell them to cool off, or who come up to me after a loss and complain for twenty minutes about how they were cheated out of a win. but with the exception of these three or four above mentioned superstars, it has been fun to get out and watch some basketball (though not as exciting as i wished it was - these aren't professionals i get to watch, that's for sure :) ), as well as play in an extra game or two when one team is short on players.

all ups and downs considered, i am enjoying the opportunity to serve. and while sports often bring out the worst in people, they can also bring out the best, which is why the church supports it. and how can i not be having fun when i have such an awesome cheerleader like this...

Easter

Our Easter came and went pleasantly. The last two years we've hid baskets carrying candy and a small gift and had Claire finding eggs that lead her to her basket. Does that make it a tradition yet? She woke up and Scott first explained the game to her and then she was out of her room and a pro by the third egg.

While Claire's eggs led her through her play house and up the stairs, Everett just looked on in bewilderment. :)

Claire found both baskets hiding behind the couch upstairs and gave Everett his. He didn't seem to like the pink grass in his basket. I'm not sure whether it was the feel of it or the fact that it was pink that he didn't care for. ;)

Claire was excited about her new princess toy and Everett seemed to like his little tiger.

We got ready for church and enjoyed the lessons about the Resurrection. I had prepared an Easter lesson a couple weeks ago for Sharing time in Primary. I had little visual aids to teach the story and I had practiced on Claire. She actually knew the story pretty well and could tell me who the woman outside the tomb was ("Mary") and why she was so sad ("Jesus gone"). And then she'd get all happy when the woman sees Jesus behind her ("There he is!"). It was pretty neat though, hearing her describe the story of the Resurrection. This was the first year she was actually able to somewhat understand the real reason we celebrate Easter and I'm excited to be able to go into more depth each year and help teach her more about Jesus.

After church we went on a short walk and tried to get some pictures of us in our Easter clothes. Claire's getting into a stage of cheesy grins or doing her own thing for pictures which includes dancing. The last picture she is doing a little bow. :)

The boys in their matching ties. So handsome. And our attempt at a family photo. We put the camera on the stroller and set the timer and it took like a dozen pictures, all of which Claire is either picking her nose or looking backwards up at me and Everett is looking the other way in most as well so this is probably the best we got. Oh well. :)

 Happy Easter!

a couple memories made

we've got two quick and humorous stories for you today. aren't you so lucky? :)

our first funny tale takes place as we were preparing our family home evening treat. we wanted warm chocolate chip cookies tonight. we did not want to have to actually do the work and make warm chocolate chip cookies tonight. so we took the easy way out and bought one of those ready to bake batch of cookies that you just have to break up into smaller pieces, place on a baking sheet, and cook. well, after teasing claire just a little about eating all the cookies ourselves, claire ended up getting the last laugh when we looked down and realized one of the clumps of cookie dough had gone missing. yep, while we weren't looking, claire snatched it and took off. luckily we caught her before she had devoured the cookie dough entirely and explained we had to cook it first. :) we had a pretty good laugh.

our second story of jolly happened just a few minutes later. a friend of mine challenged a few of us to do 2500 push ups in the month of march, which (since we began on the 5th of march) averages out to 100 a day. so claire has seen her poor daddy struggling to do push ups randomly throughout the day. claire, being the helpful little girl she is, decided to help daddy and came over and started pushing daddy down every time he tried to push up. while i do appreciate the assistance, i do need to teach her it's the pushing up part that i need help with, not the going down. i got that part down pretty well. :)

Everett at 6 Months

1. Everett is now our little 6 month old!

2. He weighs 18 pounds 11 ounces and is 28 inches tall. This is about the same weight and height Claire was at a year old. He's such a big boy. :)

3. This keeps him in the 70th percentile for weight and back up to the 95th percentile for height.

4. Everett has just recently really mastered sitting up. When I took his last photoshoot right after he turned 6 months, he still couldn't quite stay up for very long. I had to have Scott prop him up a little and then photoshop his arm out. But now he's sitting for longer periods of time and he's able to catch himself most of the time if he starts tipping over. :)

5. A while ago we started with some serious sleep training because his daytime naps were so crazy and short and I realized he was very dependent on nursing to fall asleep. He's gotten a little better, and he's now sleeping in his crib instead of the playpen in our room. He can fall asleep on his own now sometimes which is a lot better, but we have still had a lot of rough days and nights. He doesn't like his paci at all so it's been more difficult than it was with Claire to sleep train. Hopefully he gets it soon.

6. Everett loves his mommy. He throws some big fits when I put him down or leave the room for a minute, even to just go to the bathroom. I do put him down because I know he needs to move around and build his motor skills, and I want him to trust that I will come back every time, but he loves loves loves to be held and walked around.

7. After he finally got the hang of solids, he seems to like everything we've given him so far which has been Bananas, Rice Cereal, Apples, Sweet Potatoes, Peaches, Squash, Green Beans, and Pears.

8. Everett loves making noises. He makes a lot of noises himself experimenting with the different sounds his mouth makes. He also loves to bang his toys down and scratch things with texture, just so he can hear the different noises those things can make. He also loves to jump in his bouncer and make a lot of noise that way.

9. He grabs at things. All the time. He sees something he wants and reaches for it. We think it's pretty cute. At his check up he was reaching for the doctor's clipboard and just looking around and grabbing at anything that came close to his reach. He's grabbed Claire's hair multiple times, and she thinks it's funny. She does get a little upset if he grabs one of her toys though.

10. He still adores Claire. He's usually full of smiles around her and he laughs at things she does. She's so helpful with him and quick to pick up toys or things that he drops. I hope this lasts forever. :) We all love him so much!

memory made

our little claire loves her little people. she is especially fond of her snow white, which she has come to identify as herself. if you'll notice in the first picture, that's her standing atop the ring tower, with everyone else looking up to her. should we be worried a little? all hail claire! :) she's so funny. we love her bunches.