Great Day

Great Day - due to many wonderful things. The #1 part is that Lucy was sitting next to me sucking on her string cheese (it takes her 30 minutes to eat one of those, if she actually ever gets around to eating the whole thing) when she said, Mom? When I responded, "Yes?" She hugged me, looked me in the eyes and said, "I wov ewe" And pointed at my nose. Sweet darling little girl! I love her rock solid determination  but also her softer side that loves to sit in my lap and snuggle with her blanket, or the one that shares with her "Sissy" or braves the "big mean monster" to save her Sissy.

She is the Silliest Goose around - she loves to put her stinky toes (and when she wears a certain pair of shoes, Wow, they STINK!) in my face and say, "Stinky!" and wave her hand before her nose. And when I'm not looking, she tells her little dollies that they have stinky feet :) 

I love how she loves to be independent, "Myself!" is the phrase heard most often. Second only to, "Mine!" :) - She has to go down the staircase, "herself" or take her clothes off, "herself". She loves to climb anything, "herself". If Lily is doing it all by herself, then Lucy certainly won't accept help from anybody either. 

But really, she loves to be goofy and make those around her laugh. She is so unique and special - we need her in this family!

The #2 part is that my gluten free diet has hit the 1 month check point and I am definitly seeing improvement in leg pains. My joints still feel the same, but for 2 days in a row I have woken up without feeling pain/tingly in my legs. Oh, and I have energy! Hopefully I don't jinx this by writing this, but (knock on wood) - this might be the trick!

Lily's Dream

Today (August 4, 2013 - I've been backtracking lately, but I'm actually blogging about something that happened today).

This morning while coloring, Lily told us about her dream that she had last night. She said, "Jesus was coming down from the sky and the sky was red." I asked what he did when he came down and she said he talked to people but she couldn't remember what he said. 

Jordan and I just looked at each other, asking if the other had told her about this part of the second coming doctrine. Neither of us had. I'm currently teaching the CTR 5 class (And loving it might I add!) so I am in sharing/singing time along with Lily every Sunday so I know that isn't where she learned it from. So today, since it's Sunday, I asked her teacher, Sister Zook, if she had happened to teach them anything like that, and she answered in the negative and looked perplexed as I am when I told her about Lily's dream.

It might be possible that she heard it somewhere else (where, I don't know, but I can't rule out the possibility). But most likely, this was something very special that reminded me of how precious little children are and our heavy responsibility to care for them and teach them. Lily is a very special little girl who loves to do what is right. She is still learning what is right, and although doesn't always choose what she knows to be the right - she tries very very hard and I am so proud of her. She is a blessing in my life - she tells me randomly several times a day, "Mommy, I love you.". And she still loves to just snuggle, which warms my soul. She is smart and creative and silly. I am grateful for the gospel and the knowledge of how we can be together forever. 

Lily's Spring Dance Recital

Lily loves her ballet classes! And especially since her friend Hannah was in her same class. Lucy was still a little frustrated that she couldn't be apart of dance class, but she had Jaxson, Hannah's older brother to play with during lessons and she always got a star sticker after class, just like the big girls - so that made it bearable.

This recital was a little different from the winter recital. She had a different teacher and although she did a great job teaching them technique during classes, she didn't start teaching them the dance until 3 weeks prior to the recital. And she taught them 2 different dances! Lily, well, she had fun being on stage, but most of the time she was up there for the 2 dances she was looking at us or the bright lights. She still had fun so that was all that mattered. And, of course, we went out to the restaurant of her choosing afterwords (McDonald's) to celebrate.

March Miscellaneous

A princess through and through. The belle shoes my mom bought for her while we were in Cali, her Minnie, her Minnie purse from AnnaJune, a bracelet and her tiara from the McDonald's happy meal (also via my mom).

 I love watching babies sleep. I'm such a stalker.

Lily's first time running with her Daddy! She was a smidgen proud of herself. Jordan, after running 15 miles or so, came home from his run and then, although exhausted, run with Lily around the block because she's been begging him all week to go running with him. 

I came home from VT to find them in their regular post church zombie nap. Sundays are a little crazy with my primary calling, Jordan being a Valiant boy's teacher and also the EQ secretary. 

Parker/Allen/Elliss girls week in San Jose - a Mega Post - February 2013

Going from living in a hotel for 3 1/2 weeks to having a week long playdate just one week afterwords was heaven for all of us. The girls went from being trapped in a tiny room to having a backyard to run around in and friends to play with. Lily fell in love, I mean with her cousins Laney and Cali. Lily slept on their floor and the first night they stayed up for 2 hours talking and giggling. 

Lucy and Eli had a love-hate relationship, as one would only expect from toddlers living together. 

It was a really nice February weather, even for California. It was in the 70's most days and the girls spend the majority of their time outside playing. I can't say enough that it was priceless to see my my girls playing with their cousins, outside getting fresh air, exercise and using their imaginations. The snow and hotel living had put a damper on the fresh-air and exercise portions of our daily living. Furthermore, my sister is my best friend right after Jordan - so it warmed my heart to see our daughters becoming instant best friends, all while I got a whole week to chat with my mom and sister. 

Lily, "The water hurt my feelings!" She didn't even get close to the water. I had to hang out with her by the towels, with our backs turned from the ocean for at least 20 minutes before she calmed down.

Cheetos Fan Club

I have a fetish with baby feet! These perfect little toes belong to Lucy. 

Once her cousins were done playing in the water and came back to play in the sand, Lily had a blast.

The moment Lucy discovered sand.

Lucy, who hated bottles and binkies as a baby was curious to see Eli always with a binkie. 

Flowers from the local Farmers Market!

One day we all went down to a small local zoo/park. Once admission was paid, we got unlimited rides - and there were never lines. So we could just sit on the carousel as it went round and round and round and round 3,495 times along with the other toddler/preschooler friendly rides. This was hands down Lily's favorite day. 

Did I mention that I miss my mom and sister? Cause I do, a ridiculous amount. If they can't be my next door neighbors, at least my sis lives in an awesome place like coast-side Cali and my mom was willing to pay for me and my girl's plane tickets out there so we could spend some quality family time together.

That Time We Lived in a Hotel

One day in late January I came home from grocery shopping and picking Lily up from preschool to find our downstairs bathroom, under stairs storage and several areas in our living room to be flooded. I could tell it was coming from our duplex neighbors so I ran over to knock on their door to ask if they needed help, and if it had stopped. I could tell they were in there (probably trying to stop the flooding) and didn't answer my repeated knocks. So I went home and tried to clean up the mess. As I was busy doing this, Lily tried to help me by putting the groceries away for me. She's such a little sweetheart!

Don't judge me for the canned chili - I was doing my best to pretend to be a with-it primary president and was helping put on the scouts Blue and Gold dinner (potato bar). Me, helping run the scouting program. That's comical.

Well, several hours later, our neighbors knocked on our door and explained that the flood was.....icky, gross, Toilet Water!!!! AACCKK! I mean, I had been doing a good job of keeping the girls out of the flooded areas and keeping it contained, but with toilet water one needs to be OCD about contamination! Lucy and I were sick that very night. Also with toilet water, they had to rip up the entire carpet, dry wall, cabinets, ect. Awesome. And no renters insurance for us. Luckily we had an awesome landlord to paid for us to go to a hotel for a few days while they cleaned it up. At first we went to a cheap hotel, but Jordan polity said something and we were moved just down to street to a nicer hotel for the same price. And the second hotel had a microwave, mini fridge and freezer. Which was good, because 3 days turned into 3 1/2 weeks!!!

We were living out of suitcases and eating fast food for 3 1/2 weeks. I seriously repeated the same 4 outfits over and over. And to add insult to injury, our best friends, the ones we always relied on for help, had just moved to Salt Lake. And it snowed like every day, preventing us from playing outside (our snow gear was suck in the house) or going up to visit said friend very often. My girls went stir crazy and we watched more TV than I would like to admit. I spent a lot of time at the gym, the library, and target. My ward couldn't do much to help because, well, even though we were living in a hotel, there were still others in much more dire situations than us. So, fast food and frozen dinners it was. Fulfilling my calling was a joke, but still had to be done somehow. Oh, and Lucy, she did NOT want to sleep in a pack and play when there were queen sized beds in the same room. So she slept with Jordan. That is, when she actually slept. She became as bad as a newborn, waking up 5x a night and needing to be soothed back to sleep. 

They were seriously climbing the walls with boredom. And anything else they could find, like the microwave.

When there are no toys for a month, a package of diapers suddenly becomes your own personal Disney Land. 

There was a pool, and long hallways to run down. That's how we tried to get their energy out every night. It was an experience for sure. Lily loved it (she got to snuggle with me every night) right up until it was time to leave. After we were back in our duplex and would would pass the hotel in our car (which was almost every day). She would ask, "We don't have to go live in the hotel again, do we?" haha. It was an experience that brought our family closer together. And, I didn't have to clean a toilet, vacuum or do dishes for 3 1/2 weeks. To be honest, I got some good reading in.