Sadie is "1"

Sadie celebrated her 1st birthday last weekend at her grandma and grandpa Mortensen's house. Naturally we gave her a little cake to dig into. She started off a little timid and gradually got more and more into it.

In the end, Grandpa was the only one willing to kiss her grubby hand. Then came the presents. She received a touch and feel book from aunt Lisa, a strawberry shortcake doll from grandma and grandpa, and a purple tu-tu from her parents.
Her brother was kind enough to help her open her gifts, and the final picture shows her saying "I'm 1" or maybe its, "I'm #1" either way, she knows how to point fingers!

Girls weekend away!

A couple girlfriends and I had the chance to run away to Seattle for the weekend. We told our husbands we were going for a spiritual "Time out for Women" ha ha, suckers! Just kidding, we did get a very spiritual uplift. And a lot of shopping and lounging in the hot tub too! Thanks to Bryan for being so willing to stay with the kids, and even having the house cleaned when I returned!

Playing Catch-up

Well I know it's been what? 3 months since Christmas, but I've got to get all of our happenings recorded (no matter how late,) for posterity, right?! Anyway, our Dec. started off well with a rip-roaring ward Christmas party. At the end of the party they had all of the kids come up to the front of the room, so we sent Jack up. He did so well with all those older kids, he was reverent, folded his arms, and bowed his head when they said the closing prayer. He kept his arms folded while they sang a couple Christmas songs
And then all of a sudden from across the room entered the big man himself and all the kids shouted, "Santa!" and took off running across the room. I turned back around and this is what I saw...
The lone man standing there watching. No one told him that he was supposed to run towards a big, hairy, man dressed in red. I don't know that the pictures or my words tell the story very well but I was busting up laughing, it was quite comical. Both the kids did make it on to Santa's lap, without any tears or fears, just a couple of questionable looks. All and all a pretty enjoyable night.

The Christmas festivities continued with a brief visit to my parents house and a birthday celebration. Not "THE" birthday, just mine. We had a great time, but unfortunately, no pics. We continued on to Spokane to enjoy a BIG Frederickson Christmas eve party, complete with a nativity reenactment. We supplied a cute little shepard that looks a little like Yoda (because it was) and an adorable little sheep.

The holiday season was wonderful. The best part of course was just being with family.

Our little Sadie has had a lot of "firsts" since then. She got her first and her fifth tooth in a matter of a couple weeks.

She now claps and sings along with songs such as "Patty cake," "3 little monkeys swinging in the tree," & "if your happy and you know it, clap your hands."

She is getting her brother and fathers curls. No fair! Where can I get some of those?
She finally stopped nursing! Yeah! And moved straight to a sippy so I don't have to wean her off a bottle.

She can pull herself up and cruise the furniture.

And my cute little girl learned how to do this...

As for Jack, he got to have a little snow fun this winter. He is saying and doing new things everyday. He still loves to sing.

And he learned how to lift weights by watching his mother workout.

As for Bryan and I, are latest project was to paint our bathroom cabinets. They were an oak color, and we painted them white. And yes, that is an elephant on our countertop, I learned towel origami.

It's Potty Time!

*WARNING this posting is rated at least PG for some nudity and toilet talk. Shield your children's eyes and ears!

We haven't official started potty training Jack, mostly because I don't think I'm ready. However we bought a little potty and checked out "Elmo's Potty Time" DVD from the library just to start introducing the subject. The DVD has a few catchy little tunes on it, however my child has developed a little potty mouth, literally, from watching it. I swear the kid knows like ten different words for going to the bathroom. I think the best was the other day when Bryan told Jack that he was going to go poop in the potty. Jack responded with, "It's Dukie!" Of course we did what any mature parents would do and we laughed. So now it seems to be Jacks favorite choice of words in reference to the bathroom. Which led to a couple days later when Jack was riding in the car with Bryan and was singing "I love to see the Temple." He got to the part where it says, "I'll prepare myself while I am young, this is my sacred duty." Only Jack sang, "I'll prepare myself while I am young, this is my sacred Dukie." The kid is funny, what more can I say?

Halloween Festivities!

I think Fall is such a great time of year. Sure I miss the warm days and I'm already dreading the snow that I know is just around the corner. But I love all the colors on the trees, the pumpkin patch fun, and the ritual which makes being a parent all worth while... dressing your little kids in Halloween costumes! Life is so much fun when you get to relive all your childhood memories with your children. Actually I don't recall any memory of going to the pumpkin patch when I was a kid, but the other activities that surround Halloween, carving pumpkins, dressing up, and going trick-or-treating are still fresh in my mind. That's probably because I was still doing that when I was in college, but at least now I understand why all those people gave us "twenty somethings" dirty looks as we stood on there doorstep and shouted "trick-or-treat!"






I think Sadie won the cutest costume contest at our house this year. She was our little "SadieBug." Although Jack kept calling her "Spiderman." Jack donned the duck costume this year, however, we only got this one picture of him with his hood up because Bryans got a quick trigger finger, and it wasn't until after we came home that night and took his costume off that he decided now would be an ok time to put on his duck feet that his mother spent all afternoon crafting. Bryan came home from work, changed his clothes, put a big belt buckle on that I had from Oklahoma, and some moccasin slippers that he had as a teenager and called himself "cowboys and Indians."And as for me, I know that's not the best picture of a flapper girl, however don't you worry, I was feeling real good about myself that night as I was wearing a dress I wore when I was in high school and the only part that was a bit tight was in my chest! All and all, we had a great time just spending time together as a family.