would it work?

Travis and I have been a bit sleep deprived lately. Anna has decided that she likes to wake up and talk (...loudly...to no one in particular) every two hours or so. At first we would wait for her to fall back asleep on her own, but we ended up waiting...and waiting...and waiting. (She likes to have REALLY long conversations.) And then, inevitably and eventually, she would end up rolling onto her stomach and then get upset because...well...she is on her stomach.

Last night after her third time waking up (around 3:00 am) Travis came up with a brilliant idea. We are going to try installing a rabbit water bottle dispenser to the inside of her crib, fill it with milk, and then when she decides she is hungry, she can just roll to the side and lap herself back to sleep. Brilliant! :)

mesmerized

We finally decorated our Christmas tree tonight. I tried to get some cute pictures of Anna actually looking at the camera, but she was mesmerized by the tree lights. My camera flash certainly doesn't compete or compare with the glowing wonder of tiny colored bulbs at extremely close range.

my girl

nyc diva

Anna wore her new hat from NYC on our walk today, and, as you can see, she totally rocked the block! She even paused for a moment to pose for the paparazzi.

Thanks, Grammy and Pup!

attack of the monkeys

Anna has many nicknames: Anna Banana, Miss Banana, Munchkin, Crazy Legs, and, our favorite, Monkey. We recently introduced her to Socko, her sock monkey.

They are now bffs.

They like to hang out together.

Sometimes they play nice.

Sometimes they don't, and it turns into an WWF attack of the monkeys.
(Note the classic "bite to the bicep" move.)

She must hang out with Travis on Tuesday nights watching WWF while I am at Young Womens. I don't know where else she could pick up her moves. And all these years I thought that Travis wasn't a WWF fan. Hmmmm. It looks like his secret is out now. :)

cowlicks

I took this picture of Anna because I was so excited about her holding her head up so well by herself. But... honestly... do you notice anything other than the enormous cowlick? Anna is only three months old, but I decided it was high time for the first hair cut.

The professional cut.

The sleek, new look.

s'moreos

Travis told me earlier last week that the Elder's Quorum would be having a Cookie Cook-Off on Saturday night. I quickly started searching my brain trying to think of the best cookie in my arsenal of baked goods. Nothing spectacular came to mind.

Later that night, as I was trying to fall asleep, my mind drifted to a beautiful place... a place of divine cookie thoughts. That is when it came to me. S'mOreos. I would make a unique and creative combination of double cake mix cookies filled with the scrumptious gooey taste of creamy marshmallow goodness... and of course dusted with graham cracker crumbs. It would be unique. It would be intriguing. It would certainly win first prize! It had to be done.

Saturday came, and Travis and I spent the afternoon baking perfectly round chocolate cookies, mixing marshmallow frosting (thanks to sewdarncute.typepad.com for the frosting recipe), and crushing graham crackers into a fine powder.

SIDE NOTE: I used regular Marshmallow Cream this time instead of the Fluff which I used last time. I HIGHLY recommend finding and using Fluff. It is just so much... more... um... fluffy. Mmmm.

We took the invention masterpiece to the party, and we ending up tying for Most Original. Yeah! S'mOreos—it'll be a household name one day! :)

kohls crash

It's true. I don't know how the rumor spread so fast, but yes... I did crash and burn—big time—inside Kohls Department Store yesterday. I am opting out of posting pictures of the injuries because photos of little bruises will not do justice to the pain and embarrassment I truly suffered.

It was a Friday afternoon, and I was bored. It was a little too chilly for a walk with Anna outside, so I came up with a great alternative. Shopping! I would get out of the house, and Anna would get her afternoon walk too. So I loaded Anna up in her car seat and headed down the road to Kohls.

As we walked into the store I became extremely excited about the prospect of new clothes. I was holding Anna's car seat in both hands. (Despite the "mommy muscles" that are supposed to develop, I still have a REALLY hard time lifting the Anna/car seat combination.) As I started heading towards the women's shoes section, I think I became a little too focused and excited about new shoes, and forgot all about how to walk in them. In a split second, I was face down on the floor of the aisle with a sore ankle, a bruised and throbbing knee, and poor Anna skittering across the floor in her car seat (luckily it was still right side up, and luckily we had the five-point harness secure!)

I quickly pushed myself up off the floor and glanced in every direction to see how many people had witnessed (or heard) my amazing disaster. (Look left, look right.) No one made eye contact... but I knew it was impossible that the noise of the skittering car seat, Anna's screams, or my face smacking the floor hadn't peaked the curiousity of shoppers in the vicinity. I just figured it must have looked so bad that people didn't want me to feel any worse by letting me know they witnessed the whole thing.

I picked up the car seat, turned around, and headed straight out the door. I was beyond humilated, and Anna wasn't too happy either. That was enough "shopping" for one day. We went home.

scary skeleton

ok...not so scary...but dang cute! I can't help it if I'm Anna's biggest fan. Happy Halloween everyone!

Ok, Mom. Seriously. Enough pictures already!

(we call this face "the snarl".)

2700 miles...

...in eight days... with a five year old, eighteen month old, and a three month old. Call us crazy? That's ok. We had a great time!

Day 1: Salt Lake City, UT to La Grande, OR

Day one was...um...interesting. First of all, I need to make note that only Travis, Anna, and I were coming from Salt Lake that day. Jen, Duane, Carter and Dalan were coming from Green River, WY...on the first big snow storm of the season. They ended up in a absolute stand still on I-80 which was closed because of the weather...FOR FOUR HOURS! Dang. I think I would have turned around, but they waited it out and made it all the way to Burley, ID that night.

Day 2: La Grande, OR (or Burley, ID) to Seattle, WA

Anna loved the top of the Space Needle.

We all finally met up in Seattle the night of day two.

Day 3: Seattle, WA to Vancouver, B.C. (Canada)

We followed some pretty sketchy Google map directions to Vancouver in the dark after hanging out in Seattle for the day.

Anna became best friends with the weird blue dog hanging from her car seat.

Day 4: Vancouver, B.C. to Port Angeles, WA

We took our car on a ferry ride to Vancouver Island to spend the day in Victoria. Dilly Dally loved the ferry ride, and the views were spectacular. We also visited this cool castle in Victoria.

Day 5: Port Angeles, WA to Portland, OR

The drive down the scenic coastal highway 101 was beautiful. I absolutely love the driftwood on the beaches and the towering rocks peeking out of the ocean.

Carter loved collecting beach treasures.

Anna loved the scenic highway.

Day 6: Portland, OR to Crescent City, CA

One of my very favorite things about the Pacific Northwest in the fall is, of course, the beautiful leaves! On our way to Crescent City (still on Highway 101) we stopped at the Sea Lion Caves. The sea lions must have been on vacation, but the scenery was amazing!


Day 7: Crescent City, CA to however far we can make it towards home.

We spent the morning among the giant Redwoods. Amazing! As far as we could make it turned out to be Winnimucca, NV.

Anna loved the Redwood Forest.

Day 8: Winnimucca, NV to Salt Lake City, UT

It's always nice to finally be home! (and to have Anna back on a somewhat normal schedule :) Thanks to our travel buddies who endured road side feedings, freak snow storms, and endless hours in the car. We loved creating this memory with you!

say what?

You're taking me where? Seriously?

Stay tuned for Anna's first big adventure.

new tricks

Anna has some new tricks she wants to show off to everyone. She has been working hard every day to perfect these exciting, new skills. We have been so busy practicing that we haven't blogged for a whole week! Here is the first picture as she mentally prepares to astound us all...

The first trick is being able to lift up her head to a whopping 45 degrees...by herself! Get ready... It only lasts a second...

The second trick (which is an Anna specialty) is that her legs go just as high as her head. Whenever she tries to lift one end, the other magically follows. (Wow! Check out that extension! :)

Too tired to try again!

The third trick is that Anna is now smiling! I must say, every morning when I go in her room it helps me know I can make it through the day after I see her smile at me. What a reward!

artwork for anna

Anna's room is decorated in a hodgepodge of some of my favorite things: Pop Ink Pattern Paper Dolls from French Paper Co., the pennant banner from my SU! shower (seen on the crib), tissue paper flowers that I made from a Martha Stewart kit (see the baby blessing post), and just great patterns like the crib bedding. I love all these things—but I had two problems. All the colors didn't exactly go together, and we didn't want to hang anything on the walls above where Anna sleeps—you know, being paranoid first-time parents and all—just in case.

So, here is my solution...I painted 12" x 12" squares directly on the wall with acrylic paint (I probably spent $25 on different colors of $1.99 paints before I found the perfect three colors—Travis is so patient with me! :) And then, the white numbers are from Stampin' Up!'s new line of Décor Elements (self-adhesive vinyl art). They were so quick and easy to apply! And there you have it! If it weren't for the bazillion coats of color changes, this would have been a pretty quick project. Ta-da! And now my little Anna has a focal point that ties everything in her room together. (It is what ever six week old girl dreams of! :)

Thanks, Trav, for being patient through yet another of my many "wrench in the routine" craft projects.

wrapped around her finger

So, it's official. Judging by this picture— Anna has Travis completely wrapped around her finger (or I guess Anna is completely wrapped around Travis's finger). Whichever way it goes, they seems to be each other's biggest fan. There is definitely something about watching the guy I married with our baby that just gets me right there. I love it!

So the other day, Travis got up early with Anna so I could sleep in a bit. (What a sweetie!) When I finally got up a few hours later, I found Travis and Anna hanging out together, and Anna dressed in this
onesie—which was definitely picked on purpose!

Ok. We all know no relationship is perfect all the time! :)