Visit Home

Joseph's Mom came down the weekend before last. It was a short visit, but we enjoyed having her. Kilynn liked showing off for her and piling her lap with toys. On Monday Kilynn and I rode back to LaGrande with Penny. We met Adam and Ori there and after spending the evening with the Waites, Adam and Ori took us to Haines. I'd like to say we had an amazing time there, but that isn't entirely true. Kilynn was so clingy and cranky. I thought at first that she was just overwhelmed with all the people around that were slightly still strangers, but she never seems to mind being around strangers and she usually loves being the center of attention. I finally found out, however, that she had a temperature. I still don't know what exactly was going on, but Tuesday was kind of miserable. I had to hold her all day. The original plan was that I'd stay with Adam and Ori since Mom was gone all week anyway. When Kilynn got sick though, I decided it might be better to move up to my parent's house where there weren't as many people and where I didn't have to feel bad about Kilynn waking everyone up all night. Sorry to be a party pooper Ori! Kilynn got better after that first day there and was able to start exploring and getting to know everyone. I wish as always that I would have taken more pictures. Kilynn has A LOT of cousins. Kilynn got to see all her cousins that live in the area while we were there. I got pictures of only a few of them.

This is where we spent most of our "Spring Break" Gotta get our winter fix in sometime! Kilynn got to help Uncle Eli feed cows. Jumping on the trampoline with Uncle Eli Joseph worked all week and then came up on Friday and brought me back to LaGrande where his family was in the process of gathering for a niece's upcoming baptism. Saturday, we headed up to Tricities where the baptism would be held. Thanks for letting us stay Amity and Scott! Swinging with cousin Mariah Cousin David Cousin Evalily

I like this picture. It may look like she is crying, but she is really laughing. Thanks for this picture Amity. Thanks for making her pretty flower clips Ori!

This is what the Waites do when they get together--play lots of Pinochle We were able to attend Adryann's baptism Sunday evening. Congratulations Adryann!

Kilynn turned 15 months last week and I need to record some of the things she does and words she is saying. The amount of learning going on in that brain is picking up faster at this age and she is surprising me everyday. I've been wanting to do a post like this ever since she was 13 months but I've been too upset because I took the perfect video of her doing all her animal sounds and words and tricks and then it wouldn't let me upload it.

     Animals sounds she knows: Lion, Bear, Tiger (all say the same thing) Cow, Horse, Dog, Cat, Turkey, Sheep, Goat, Duck, Snake and Monkey. For the Monkey, we tried teaching her to say Ooh-ah-ah, but instead she always says Uh-Oh-Oh
     Words that anyone would recognize: Hi, Bye-Bye, Daddy, Mamma, Cheese, Apple, Peaches, Shoes, Baby, Book, Eyes, Glasses. 
     Words that only Joseph and I would recognize: Highchair, Hat, Piu (says while getting diaper changed,) Ball, Milk, Blankie, All gone, All done (holds hands out palm up,) Please and Thank You.

She started saying please and thank you last week while helping me unload the bottom rack of the dishwasher. She loves this job and is ready and willing to come help even when I'm loading:) For unloading though, she is actually a good helper. I don't have to bend over to grab dishes from the bottom rack anymore. It's pretty cute to see her grab a plate and hold it up as high as she can to give it to me. The plate is so big compared to her, that all you see is her little hands clutching it. The rest of her body from my perspective is hidden. Anyway... Every time she hands me something I say "Thank You!" Therefore, she also started saying thank you every time she hands me something. All last week, the only time she would say "thank you" was when she was handing something to someone else. This morning, however, something finally clicked. I handed her a graham cracker and she said thank you. I just handed her a toy and she did it again! Her version of thank you is actually "Kee Coo" in a high pitched sing song sort of way. The word "Please" came about because for the last two weeks, she has been going through a very unbearably loud screaming phase. We have been dealing with this in a couple different ways, one of which is to get her to use words more. When she wants something, we've taught her to say please instead of pointing at it and screeching at the top of her lungs. The only problem with her saying please though, is that it is going to be so hard to refuse her now. Her screaming has gotten so much better. It's funny to watch her think through things. She will start to scream and realize we aren't paying any attention, and then she'll get quite and say "pees."

Kilynn is our little sunshine. She has such a fun and cheery personality. She has added so much to our family and we can't imagine what life was like before we had her.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Joseph today! I have the most wonderful husband ever! He is so loving, thoughtful, a gentleman, a wonderful father, hard worker, service oriented, and extremely handsome to name just a few of his qualities. This is a picture that came out in the Philomath Firefighting mailer. I realize it's a little blury.

I love you Joseph!

Snow!

I know most of you who read my blog see plenty of snow and you are sick of it. I understand those feelings since I grew up where snow hung around for almost half the year. I also understand that you may have hostile feelings toward me when you read this post and see my excitement for snow in February. Last night it started snowing a little. This is the first snow we have had since right before Thanksgiving. Joseph and I were taking the garbage out, and he was trying to start a snowball fight. I picked up some snow to make a snowball and something got into me. I realized that this was really good packing snow and I decided I needed to make a snowman. There was barely a skiff of snow, but I made a snow...creature anyway. Joseph was a little annoyed because we had a game of Settlers of Catan all set up inside that he was wanting to play. I told him we could play Settlers anytime, but we needed to be spontaneous sometimes and make some memories. I started my snowman and he went inside and came out with the video camera. I asked, "What are you doing? Aren't you going to come help me?" He said, "Go ahead, I'll video and make the memory." I know it's sad--me trying to make a snowman when you can still see so much green grass poking through. It has been spring here lately. We've planted our peas, onions, and red potatoes in our garden. We've been mowing our lawn! Our tulips and daffodils are coming up!

By this morning there was a lot more snow outside. When Kilynn woke up, I had her look out the window and she kept saying "brrr." I was amazed. I have no idea how she can make the connection between snow and "brrr" when she has had so little experience with snow. Maybe it was a coincidence? She amazed me once again though when I said, "It looks like Christmas!" and she said, "Ha Ha Ha" (I could tell it was her Ho Ho Ho that she does for Santa). I understood where she got this though because she has a little book about Santa.

I took her on a walk outside first thing this morning. I got a little carried away with pictures I know.

They cancelled all the schools. So kids were all out playing

Due to the face in the previous picture, I carried her for a while. I finally realized, however, that she was missing a boot. How long had she been missing it?

We had quite a few steps to retrace, but it was easy tracking!

Why We Should Be Reverent At Church

Yesterday after church, Joseph had a meeting and Kilynn and I were hanging around waiting for him. There is a young man in our ward who seeks out Kilynn often at church. He loves playing with Kilynn and Kilynn laughs and laughs whenever he is around. He approached us while we were waiting and offered to play with Kilynn so I could go to choir practice. I took him up on it. About halfway through choir practice I thought I heard Kilynn screaming. I figured she was just squealing because she was having fun, but I thought I ought to go check on her. I found her in the bathroom with two men trying to clean her up. She had blood coming out both of her nostrils. As soon as I got there she calmed down. I think most of the trauma for her was having two strangers with her when she was hurt. The young man had taken her outside and she was running on the sidewalk. She looked behind her, laughing, to see if he was chasing her and stepped off the curb and biffed it on the pavement. I don't know who I felt more sorry for--Kilynn or the young man. He felt so bad! It could have been a lot worse, but it's still the worse injury she's had in her life so far and it happened at church of all places. That's the blessing I get for attending choir practice?

Valentine's Day 2011

We pretty much followed our little traditions yesterday and maybe added a new one. It was a great day! For dinner we had heart shaped pizzas. This tradition started while we were dating. I was in Rexburg Idaho and Joseph was here in Corvallis. I sent a Valentine's day type letter a little earlier, but I wanted to surprize him with something on the actual day. I called around until I found a pizza place in Corvallis that did heart shaped pizzas. I ordered one for Joseph, dictated a love note for them to write on the box, and had them deliver it to his apartment. Pretty romantic huh?

I got a little more creative on the second pizza. Of course you have to have a fancy, rich, chocolate desert too. I try a new recipe every year. This year I made a flourless chocolate cake with a crème anglaise sauce (basically a light custard). It was absolutely amazing if I do say so myself. If you want to try it, HERE is the recipe. Go ahead and leave out the dark rum though. I thought it tasted just fine without it:)

Joseph always gives me chocolates and some kind of flower that is either potted or that I can grow. Here are the bulbs he got me this year. He also printed out a bunch of coupons labled "Date Night" and "Mom's Time Out." The date night one is good for dinner and an event or activity at any time and a babysitter will be provided. The Mom's time out is good for four hours out of the house redeemable on Thursdays or Saturdays. Thursday evening and Saturday are the days when he has nothing going on. I guess Monday and Friday is open too, but that is FHE and date night.

For Joseph, I found this picture frame box at Micheals. I thought it would be good to put in his office so he can remember that his family loves him while he's at work. It sits on a little lazy susan so he can waste time spinning it around while he sits at his desk:) It is not finished yet. I've got some touch up work and more lettering to do.

Does anyone know what EHE stands for? Hopefully not! It's our own secret code. It basically is a way of telling each other I love you. We use it to sign off in notes, letters, or emails. We wouldn't want anyone intercepting our notes to know that we love each other! It's kind of a silly corny thing we came up with a long time ago and it stuck.

No, even though that picture is labled "Daddy", it is not Joseph. I still need to write "I Love My" above the picture.

We may have started a new tradition last night. We brought our lap top to bed and watched our favorite romance-- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers! Love it!

The Mother

This is the mother I'm talking about: Kilynn loves her baby doll. She has started playing with it all the time recently. There have been a number of times when she is being way too quiet, so I go check on her and find her hugging, bouncing, rocking, patting, and/or kissing her baby. She rocks it and says "shh shh shh," she'll give it drinks and food, wrap it in her blanket, and I've caught her playing peekaboo with it by putting its hands in front of its eyes. Last weekend we were able to go up to Seattle to attend Sadie's baptism. It was a four hour drive and Kilynn entertained herself with that baby for almost the entire time. I wonder what sorts of things she imagines with it? While in Seattle, Kilynn met her cousin Sarah and wanted to play with her like she does her baby. She was patting Sarah and hugging her and giving her lots of attention. Luckily, Sarah has brothers and sisters who do that as well, so she wasn't even phased.

Always cuddling and playing with a stuffed animal

Giving her dog a drink

Here she is pretending to be her Mamma by wearing my necklace. I find her with this necklace on just about every day. It's her favorite accessory. Thanks Grandma Waite.