August 19, 2011 we got up at 5:30 and headed to Manti with brand new baby Pierce to attend Libbi's wedding. It was a gorgeous day and a very special sealing in the tower sealing room up a flight of spiral stairs. Rachel and Emily watched Pierce, the Baldwin kids and a couple others while we attended the sealing. Then we took tons of pictures on the hill behind the temple with Mary Kim (my aunt). I felt surprisingly good for having had a baby less than five days before the wedding.
By the time we got home I needed a nap, but there was not much time for that! We picked up the kids from Brian's mom and got them all dressed up (against their will of course) for pictures before the reception. We were very late because Brian was finishing his awesome wedding video for the happy couple.
The reception was lovely and it was great to see so many old friends. McKinley and Reagan basked in Libbi's bridal glory the whole time. Pierce did what all good newborns do and slept practically the whole time. Brian hosted a dance party for the cousins in the basement after the reception. We are so excited for Libbi and the kids are ecstatic to have a new uncle around.
Introducing Libbi Page Halsey
Family Picture Time
Brian let me go to Old Navy and pick out matching shirts for our family picture! I assure you the shopping was much more fun then the taking of these pictures. We took about 150 and just a few caught everyone with the fingers out of their nose and their eyes opened. ...Oh the memories.
Makeup
Brian wanted me to blog this picture because he liked it. So I did. Um...This is me, putting on make-up. I am wearing Sarah's dress who is on her Mission and probably doesn't want me to wear it. But I don't care because its cute and she shouldn't leave a bunch of stuff at my house forever and expect me not to wear it. :)
October: Birthdays and Conference
We enjoyed a lot of birthday fun and too many birthday treats over the first week of October with my 30th birthday, Lincoln's 7th birthday, and the girls up for Conference weekend. Dad was also here, which was lots of fun - for us at least!
The Rundown
As I upload the pics of McKinley's birthday for a different post, here is the rundown on our house lately.
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| From 2009-08-30 |
Lincoln has been enjoying school. I get him up to read with me for a half hour everyday at 7:30. One of his great pleasures seems to be eating everyone's leftovers at lunch. Almost every day he will come home reporting that so-and-so did not want his apple juice, or chips, or capri sun, or cookie and they passed it to him. I guess I will continue to not put those things in his lunch!
Truman enjoys riding his bike to school since the walk is sooooo far. He is Mr. Independent, so I am choosing my battles. One battle we fight is over homework. He gives up and throws his pencil 10 seconds into whatever he is doing, whether it be writing his name 3 times or a small a. Once we have a 30 second drama about how he can "never do it," the tiger within takes over and he will stop at nothing to get it perfect. His satisfied smile is worth all the heartache.
Jefferson finds great pleasure in dressing himself every morning. He checks to make sure everything is not backwards some days, and on others quite the opposite occurs. He wishes he were old enough to go to the Temple and promises if we take him with us, he "will be weawy quiet and sit stiw".
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| From 2009-08-30 |
McKinley is always carrying a doll or purse or phone or glasses around. She is a great mimic and can be found nursing her baby on the couch next to me - we are working on spoon-feeding cereal these days.
Reagan, or Reagel Bagel as she is known around here, is rolling all over the place. It is her preferred (or only) method of transportation when Truman is not around to haul her from room to room. She is patient as he changes her diapers, McKinley steals her binkies, Jefferson feeds her and Lincoln tries to make her laugh. I love her smile cuddles.
Brian is working hard and has taken on the roll of bread-maker to complement his roll of bread-winner. Inspired by Katherine's K is for Kithen blog, we are tackling the cheaper and more tasty make-your-own-bread way of life. But is it cheaper if I eat 3 times as much? I will have to do the math.
I have tried some new things, like avoiding all housework by canning pears and tomatoes and refinishing a little wooden hutch for McKinley. The laundry is the main casualty, but all in the name of food storage, right? It is chaos, but I love it.
More Pictures of Memorial Day Trip
We left Friday at 1:30pm from Utah in our car and by Saturday around 7:30pm we had not been to our hotel room yet. We are both going on about 5 hours of sleep combined. Considering all that, these first two pictures turned out alright. The Nauvoo Temple is worth seeing in person!
We spent other parts of our time touring Nauvoo and Carthage Jail. The first picture below is the coolest picture of the trip. The Missionary giving tours through the carthage jail gave us his "patented shot." Which is, literally, a picture through the gun shot hole of the carthage jail door to which Hyrum was killed. That is us, and Mike and Jessica, standing by the window sill and window where Joseph was shot and leapt from.
The second picture is with us and Jannelle (Maegan's Cousin) and her Husband (also named Brian) who we just happened to see at the Carthage Jail tour! Very, very random. Small world. The window just above Jannelle and her Husband is the outside of the window in first picture. It is the window Joseph Smith jumped from and died just below there.
The third picture is of us by the grave of the Prophet Joseph. This is in Nauvoo and just near the Mansion and Summer house of Joseph and Emma.
These pictures are of the Lovely Maegan and our little baby Reagan who made the trip with us. Just Beautiful!
Here is Brian, Mike, Katie and their Dad at the funeral of Doris Eleanor Duryea.
We spent other parts of our time touring Nauvoo and Carthage Jail. The first picture below is the coolest picture of the trip. The Missionary giving tours through the carthage jail gave us his "patented shot." Which is, literally, a picture through the gun shot hole of the carthage jail door to which Hyrum was killed. That is us, and Mike and Jessica, standing by the window sill and window where Joseph was shot and leapt from.
The second picture is with us and Jannelle (Maegan's Cousin) and her Husband (also named Brian) who we just happened to see at the Carthage Jail tour! Very, very random. Small world. The window just above Jannelle and her Husband is the outside of the window in first picture. It is the window Joseph Smith jumped from and died just below there.
The third picture is of us by the grave of the Prophet Joseph. This is in Nauvoo and just near the Mansion and Summer house of Joseph and Emma.
These pictures are of the Lovely Maegan and our little baby Reagan who made the trip with us. Just Beautiful!
Here is Brian, Mike, Katie and their Dad at the funeral of Doris Eleanor Duryea.
Another Remodel: Take 2
Over the last week Brian (and his brother Mike) have been hard at work doing some remodel work in our living room. We are very pleased with the outcome.
January Journal
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McKinley wore pigtails for the first time today. It took 6 elastics to get all the tiny hair in, but she looked gorgeous. She wears shoes at all time and her new favorite activity is taking her own dirty diaper to the garbage in the garage. Once I change her I yell "Stink Bomb!" and start counting down from 10. One of the boys runs in and tries to get to the garage with the diaper before I finish. The other day, McKinley picked up her diaper and said "nine, eight..." and headed to the garage. I guess the boys are relieved of their duties.
Jefferson has been much more pleasant lately. He can still be opinionated, but he will actually consider options I give him. I praise a lot for this change and he is very proud to be good and happy. He likes to help make dinner and plays quietly when the boys are not around. He and McKinley find each other hilarious. She refers to him as JJ pretty clearly.
Truman loves climbing the snow mountains and will go over there alone and stare across the fence at the schoolyard. I imagine he is either trying to catch a glimpse of Lincoln, or dreaming of his kindergarten conquests next year. He loves PB and J no crust and smiles all the time, unless he is crying (thanks to Lincoln).
Lincoln is constantly looking to invent something - crafts out of garbage, imaginary games for his siblings to join in, or the best clubhouse ever. He loves to pretend he is part of a movie he has just watched. Holes is a recent favorite. He asked for an orange jumpsuit when his bday comes in October.
Brian and I do crosswords for fun, or watch the latest thing netflix sent us on ClearPlay. We also have a good time making fruit smoothies since we are treat free for a while. My favorite is vanilla yogurt, a little milk and frozen mixed berries. Sometimes I add 1/3 a banana when I am feeling crazy.
January is quiet so I am cleaning out everything for Baby #5. Recent good finds: a missing Backyardigans DVD, and $60 worth of gift cards I finally checked the balances on. And today I did 7 loads of laundry - ok, tomorrow I will fold them.
Thanksgiving Review
I have felt full for three days straight now and I just want to be hungry again and then eat an apple. It is a good full and I wanted to offer my review of the meals we enjoyed by awarding a few of my favorites. First of all EVERYTHING at both dinners was amazing, but a few items stood out to my pregnancy influenced tastebuds this year:
Best Cranberry Sauce - Aunt Libby's homemade sauce
Best Potatoes - Tom made potatoes that tasted great without the gravy - impressive.
Best Turkey - This is a dangerous category...Brian smoked a turkey with hickory chips, Janelle and Brian roasted a turkey after injecting it with cajun seasoning, and Grandma Lou had a good old fashioned turkey. They were all great, but I am boring and for Thanksgiving I prefer old fashioned plain turkey.
Best Stuffing - Grandma Lou (I tried an internet recipe that turned out ok until I tasted hers and now mine seems pretty gross. I didn't think to look in my cookbook from Grandma, her recipe was sitting there wasted in my cupboard!!)
Best Homemade Pie - I win this by default because I was the only one who made a pie from scratch. I tried a Cream Cheese Caramel Apple pie that turned out pretty tasty. However pumpkin is my favorite so I lose in the best pie overall category.
We had a good time playing Rockband at Aunt Libby's with Janelle, Brian, Scott, Libby, Libbi, Brian the boys, McKinley and Brian W.'s friend Ben.
At Grandma Lou's we had a fun time visiting with Oswalds, Robert Doxey's, Schettlers, Bouds, Graham Doxey family minus Graham, and Max Doxey. If I missed naming you I apologize! Just as we were leaving Robert asked Grandma if she was tired out yet and she answered while bustling around, "No, but people are leaving without eating all this pie!" I hope I have that much energy when I hit my 30's let alone at 78!
The highlight of Lincoln's weekend was "winning" a pumpkin pie at Grandma Lou's when he guessed a number between 1 and 20 and was right on. He does not know Grandma was trying to pawn the pies off on everyone - he just thinks he was lucky!
After eating our feast and then playing at Aunt Libby's I left full, but sure enough once we buckled into the car all the kids said, "I am hungry!" I guess they were too busy playing to feast.
Truman enjoyed eating pumpkin pie by picking his piece up and not having to use a fork.
Jefferson ate one bite of turkey over both days and has subsisted on rolla and sugary food.
McKinley liked the sweet potatoes and rolls.
I have not officially noted anything I am grateful for, but the other day I thought how lucky I am that the purpose of my life work is driven by my kids. I would have a hard time working so hard for so long in many of the mundane things I have to do if I did not know the source of all my work was my most precious possessions. Nothing else would be worth this, yet they are and then some. I am grateful for a life driven by an invaluable purpose that constantly challenges me to live up to it. Happy Thanksgiving and bring on the Christmas season!!
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Here are a few words to go with all the pictures.
McKinley -
This tiny girl loves: baths, balls, cars, babies, binkies, bananas, food, milk, drinking from straws, running after her brothers and screaming at them, blankets, knowing where Mom is, wrestling with Dad, walks in the stroller, shoes, playing with dishes, animals, and is deathly afraid of the stairs.
Jefferson -
Brian has a major soft spot for this little guy. He is two, so I mostly hold a grudge against him until I see how cute Brian thinks he is. We recently switched sides of the bed so I can have the short cut to the restroom leaving Brian in the taking kids back to bed all night spot. Jefferson will come with his pillow and blanket and say, "I sleep with you, Daddy" in his soft high voice. Brian cannot resist this, so we have a little teddy bear to sleep with most nights.
Jefferson says "kickles" for tickles.
He was screaming in the car the other day and Brian asked, "Is that necessary?" Jefferson answered cheerfully, "No, it's just me"
Yesterday Brian announced that the Cougars were playing on Thursday in a loud very excited voice which must have startled Jefferson because he immediately scolded, "Dad! Calm down."
Truman -
Brian was at the computer and I was in the rocking chair of our room chatting when Truman came in and started ninja fighting on the bed. We were made aware of this as he jumped, kicked and said in his tough voice, "You wanna piece of me?"
Lincoln -
Every fall I try to pull the winter clothes out and put the summer ones away and every year Lincoln thinks he can wear short sleeves and shorts in the snow (wonder where he gets that idea Daddy:). He also refuses to wear anything remotely nice - like a polo, or anything with a collar, or khakis, etc. He has certain socks he would not wear until I convinced him his feet had grown enough for the socks to not be too loose. Lincoln even whines and flops when I suggest we brush his hair for school. Of course we still love him and appreciate all his help - especially cause he is a cleaning maniac when I get him started - but here are a few of his traits that wear away my patience.
Maegan -
I teach Relief Society now and after my lesson a sister said I did well and my Grandma (who lived in this ward for 40 years) was a great teacher and she was so funny, "but you are not as funny as she was." I do not aspire to anything so great as Grandma Page's humor.
Brian -
Brian is always leading us on new adventures. We love the bird place he discovered and trying new recipes and games. Most of all we love watching BYU football with him. Go Cougars, thanks for making Brian's day every weekend so far:)
Racing Day, its Racing Day.
When Lincoln was a baby Brian would say that he could not wait until he was big enough to really play with. Now that he and Truman are finally getting about that big it is really fun to see what games Dad comes up with that are as entertaining for him as they are for them.
One of his many hidden talents is making up fun games out of nowhere. King Seats, Bridge 10 and Robot 10 are three that frequent our living room. While I was grocery shopping yesterday he entertained them with yet another fun game involving racing around the house. This one was inspired by the Olympic fanaticism that has infected our home.
Here is some of the footage shot by our apprentice camera men...