Welcome myself back...

I am kind of embarrassed about how long it has been since I've posted. Only a handful of posts ago, I was reporting on Iris, the four month old. And now she's almost eight months. Wow. In my own defense, taking two kids (one of them being Riley) to the library to use the Internet is just a recipe for disaster.

Not a whole lot has happened in our lives recently. We're always busy and mostly happy. Eric will be out for the summer in two weeks, so we obviously can't wait for that! He's got an obscene amount of work to do to prepare for the semesters end, but he'll get through it smelling like a rose... he always does. Iris is rolling all around now, and working on sitting up. We were a little worried there for a while, because she was getting pretty far behind, developmentally. She hadn't done a lot of things she should have by her six month check up, so our doc sent Kids on the Move to our house to work with her. They're part of a federal program to help kids with all sorts of problems catch up to where they should be. So they come out once a month, and we work with her in between. It's apparently working, because she's a rolling machine, and is making progress with the sitting. It's sort of expected that she's a bit behind, being a month premature and spending all that time in the hospital. She lost a lot of development time. But she's doing great, and at this rate, she'll catch up in no time. I'll tell you one area that she's not a bit behind in-- eating. She loves it! Squash, carrots, bananas, sweet potatoes, pears... it doesn't matter what I give her, she gobbles it down like a pro. The other day, she ate two whole tubs of pears in ONE SITTING! She just kept going. And she doesn't even get it all over her face-- it's like she doesn't want to waste a drop. She's hilarious, and has been so much fun.

We had a great Easter last week. We went to Patti's to dye eggs, and then had a few hundred Easter egg hunts in the yard. She got pretty good.







We went to Eric's aunt Sherri's house for Easter dinner, and had the traditional Easter egg hunt in their backyard. They do this each year, and begin with a picture of all the kids on the back steps. So now they have countless pictures of them all with squinty eyes, because the sun in staring you right in the face. It was a lot of fun, of course.

Happy Birthday, Riley: Part Two

Like I said, we had her family party on her birthday, the 22^nd. I was thinking of having it during the week sometime, but it just worked out that my parents and some of my family were going to be down our way on that Sunday, so we figured we’d just have people over for dinner and then cake and presents after. We ended up having about 13 people for dinner, and then another seven came afterward. Wow. Our house isn’t a shoe box, but it’s not really equipped for that many people, either! It was packed, and more than a little warm. I have to say, Riley made out like a bandit this year—she now has more technology to her name than I do. Eric and I got her a pink lap top to help teach her letters and numbers, Patti got her a kid’s digital camera, and Uncle Cort and Aunt Donna (and Spencer and Garrett) got her a princess CD player. Of course, she got some other wonderful presents as well, lots of books and cute clothes. I was just thinking of the difference a generation makes, and wondering what kind of presents she’ll want in a decade. Oh boy. I made the cake for this party, and I was pretty proud of it, seeing as how I don’t bake, as a general rule. It was cookies and cream with melted chocolate and crumbled Oreo’s on top. Tastey. So, thanks to everyone who came and for all your love and support to Riley. She loves you, too—and prays for you daily.

There was something up with the camera, so the pictures are all blurry

Happy Birthday, Riley: Part One

It was Riley’s birthday on February 22—I can’t believe I have a 4 year old! We had a party for her little friends on Saturday the 21st, in the morning (princess themed, of course) and a party for the family on Sunday evening. We had a few cancellations/ no shows for the friend party, which I was a little disappointed about, but it all went well. We had crowns for them to decorate with stick-on gems and other bling, and we played “Pin the Tiara on the Princess”, using a 4 foot tall poster of Sleeping Beauty, the current favorite.

Since the party was just an hour long, we only had time for cake and ice cream and presents after that. I had made up little gift bags with all sorts of princess trinkets, and didn’t make any changes for the two boys who came. So they left with Ariel bubbles, Cinderella stickers, Snow White and Jasmine balloons, etc. They didn’t seem to mind. I got the cake from Harmon’s, mainly because I couldn’t resist. I took a picture which doesn’t do it justice. It had little plastic figurines on it: Belle, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. It was covered with that horrible processed frosting (that, unfortunately, I actually like) in the shapes of flowers, and I had them write, “Happy Birthday, Princess Riley”. It was beautiful.







Riley is such a fun little kid. She’s got tons of energy and enthusiasm and is so curious! Although she sometimes wears me out, I wouldn’t tone her down if I could. She’s in Sunbeams this year, and loves learning so much about Jesus and Heavenly Father. She says her prayers by herself each night, and actually pitches a fit if anyone else prays at mealtime. Her prayers are so sincere and heartfelt (albeit a bit long winded), and I’m so proud to hear them. If you are reading this, then she’s probably prayed for you! I’m so grateful to have her in our family; it really wouldn’t be complete without her.

She’s still a bean pole—tall and skinny, although she hasn’t gotten much taller lately. I think she’s not too much taller than other kids her age anymore. I think the doc said she in the 63 percentile or something like that. She’s only 32 pounds, which is only double Iris’ weight. Her doctor isn’t concerned about it, so neither am I. She doesn’t react well so change unless thoroughly briefed beforehand, so we get used to going over things in advance. She keeps us on our toes. But I’m really not complaining—like I said, I wouldn’t trade her passion even if I could.

Happy Birthday, Riley! We love you!

Draper Temple Open House

We were able to attend the open house for the Draper temple the other night- wow, it’s so beautiful! They said it’s the 129^th temple worldwide and the 12^th temple in Utah. Wow. It’s smaller than other temples I’ve been it, but set in an incredible area, right up in the hills. It’s a pretty striking scene. We took both girls with us, and even though Iris was ready for bed around the time we started, she did really well. Riley, also, was so great. We’d tried to prep her as best we could about the need for reverence and respect, and she did much better than I expected. It blew her mind, though, that she was allowed in, because when I go to the temple, she always asks what I do in there, and I tell her that she can know when she’s an adult. So she was really confused that we were bringing her inside. Every time I see a sealing room, I think of our wedding day, when Eric, Riley and I were sealed together. This was obviously the only other time we’ve all been in one of those rooms together, and it was really special. How blessed we are as members of this church! They showed a quick video clip in a church house before we were shuttled over to the temple, and it had part of an interview with Jeffery Holland. He said, among other things, that heaven just wouldn’t be heaven to him without his wife and family, and how grateful he is for the sealing power we have. I feel just the same way.

On the way home, after being generously praised for her good behavior, Riley was looking for more compliments, and waxing poetic. She talked about how much she loves Heavenly Father and Jesus, how happy she was to go in their house, and she said, “I love them so much that I would give them everything I have! I would give them all my books and toys- I’d be OK without them.” And even though I know she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, my eyes just filled with tears of gratitude for this special daughter—and family—we have.

My Little Ballerina

I mentioned earlier that Riley has been taking a dance class... it's possibly the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I tried to take pictures, but every time I get one, she stops dancing and calls out, "Can I see?". So it's kind of a distraction for the other dancers.

This was taken post-lesson in our living room

She's really feeling the music

The whole class- and you can't tell by looking here, but the adult girl looks exactly like my sister in law, Erika, who also has an identical twin sister. Plus, the girl that lives next door to my mother in law also looks like Erika. So there are at least four girls running around with the same face. Good thing it's a pretty one.

Still Here....

What a lame blogger I am. There hasn't been much to post about, but still. We hangin' in there, things are the same, but good. Iris is five months now, and as winter is almost over, I should be able to start taking her out pretty soon. Maybe by the end of this month. At the beginning of this ordeal, I wondered, "How am I going to stay inside for six months? Not possible". And now that we're coming to the close of my incarceration, I wish I could say that it has flown by and been a cinch. Alas, can't. Riley has gotten more used to it, and is easier to handle, but other than that... it's rough when going to the grocery store takes a day and a half to plan. If Eric weren't busting his brains in school right now, with organic chemistry, it's accompanying lab, micro-biology, it's accompanying lab, and figure drawing, (plus all the homework), and working about 12 days in a row at his job, it might be a little easier... for both of us. But he's almost done with the pre-dental classes, and at this point, I'm super grateful that he even has a job! So, all done complaining.

Riley is in a little dance class, and let me tell you, there is not much cuter than a row of little girls dressed up in pink tu tu's and tights. Pictures to come. Adorable.

Failed Trannie...

The transmission in our washing machine blew out this week. I didn't even know washing machines had transmissions. So now I'm at Patti's-- bless her-- using her machine to wash the four loads that piled up while we waited to find out the problem with ours. Riley's watching movies to kill the time... so far she's on her second go round with "The Rescuers". And I'm looking on Craigslist to try to find a cheapie replacement washer, as I don't want to fork out $180 to fix our old one. Wish me luck.