Brtion is 2!

Our 1 year old:

is now 2!

Briton turned 2 two days after we returned home from our trip. Yes, we planned it that way so that we could fly him for free. We are so in love with this little guy!

About Briton:

• He is smiles a lot! It is easy to get him happy and excited about something or someone. He will get frustrated about something on occasion, but it is easy to distract him and a moment later, he is laughing.
• He is very curious. I love to watch him examine a toy or a big person toy to figure out how it works. He will take things apart to see all the pieces.
• He is a climber. It is difficult to keep him off counters and tables. We had two sleepless days because he had learned to get out of the crib. Even though he was exhausted, he felt like he had to get out simply because he could. We unscrewed the frame of the crib and placed the frame and mattress on the floor on top of a couple bricks. Excellent solution thanks to Sue.
• In general, he doesn't stay still for long. (Note the picture above. He was in the process of running away from me.)
• He loves his sisters most of the time. He enjoys playing with Abby and the big kids. He always wants to kiss and love Hannah.
• He is a great hugger.

Hannah's Blessing Day

Hannah's blessing day was wonderful! We shared it with many friends and family. We so appreciated all those who made an effort to come. I love baby blessings. We are reminded that these tiny and completely dependent little bodies house valiant and very capable spirits. Hannah is a special little girl and we are excited to see promises made to her in her blessing come to fruition. We look forward to watching her grow (although we love her littleness right now - and for a while longer)!

Hannah's dress is beautiful! My mom made it - including the smocking!

A few pictures: 1 - Our little family with Mike's parents, one set of grandparents and a niece; 2 - My parents and Hannah; 3 - Four generations with my maternal line; 4 - Abby and her "hair like Clara's [a friend in MI]" that she was so proud of (thanks to Kaley); 5 - Me and my kiddos

A funny story: Right before Mike took her up to be blessed he asked if we should take her afghan as well. It looked so pretty with the dress:) He took the blanket and had her lay on the blanket in the circle. There were at least a dozen brethren that participated in the blessing so no one person had a good "grip" on her. At some point during the blessing she started to slide right off the blanket! Luckily, Tim caught her (by the legs)! Tragedy averted:)

Part 2

On Friday we saw more grandparents.

Grandpa Ray and Grandma Ellen (and Iggy)

Grandma Mary and Grandpa Frank

Abby, Briton and Hannah got to see all their Casaday cousins that evening while my parents took my sisters, significant others and us to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. The kids got their picture taken. The adults did not. (They were busy eating a lot of food.)

Friday night we planned to attend the University of Utah gymnastics meet. (Oh, how we miss being regularly attending fans!) On the way, Briton started crying and crying and crying. This is pretty out of character for him so we pulled over to try to figure out what was wrong. We never did. But...the car wouldn't start after that. Sad. We think it must have been "meant to be" that we figure it out pre-meet and not too far from home because otherwise it would have been difficult to get everyone home and get the car fixed. It turned out to be a rather simple fix and all was well. (We didn't make it to the meet though. Oh well, maybe next year when they come to U. of M.!)

On Saturday, we got family pictures taken with the Wessmans. We are excited to see them!

We celebrated Briton's and two of his cousins' birthdays at McDonalds that morning. It was a really fun and relaxed way for the cousins to play and acquaint/reacquaint themselves with each other.

That evening we went to the Discovery Gateway children's museum with lots of family members. It looks like the camera followed Briton most of the evening. He loves playing kitchen. He must have found a tool set because he is cutting vegetables with a saw.

I recognize that Hannah is not showing up a ton in the pictures I've posted thus far. Rest assured - she gets to be the star in the next post!

Utah Trip - Part 1

Well, we are home. Now for the report...

The trip started rather excitingly. On our way to the airport it started to snow - freakishly blizzardly (too many -ly words). We got stranded in Chicago. The kids were happy to be able to stay in a hotel.

We flew into Las Vegas and then spent a few days in St. George with Mike's parents and our niece. We had a lovely time...

...swimming

...playing on red rocks

...and visiting the temple visitors center

We drove into Salt Lake where we stayed with my parents for the rest of the trip. We had a great time! On the first day Mike went snowboarding with a friend. The kids and I went shopping with grandma and to the aquarium with grandma and grandpa. It's too bad that we didn't take any pictures but we really did enjoy the jelly fish, penguins, sting rays, sharks, frogs, etc. (And we loved the company!)

The next day began the visiting of the great-grandparents. It is so much fun for me to share my kids with my grandparents and share my grandparents with my kids.

Grandma Nielsen

Grandpa David

Grandma Marva

We also went to the cemetery that day. Briton loved it. (I was about to write that "Briton was in heaven" but that seemed a bit strange when talking about a cemetery.) He had so much fun running outside, on the cemetery roads and around the stones. We think that the Salt Lake Cemetery is the prettiest in the world!

To be continued. There is more - oh, so much more.

What we did while we were snowed in...

..put on bathing suits and mopped the kitchen floor, of course.

There was a foot or so of snow at our place when we woke up Wednesday morning and we couldn't go anywhere. Mike tried to get to work, but got stuck in the driveway so he got to stay home with us for the day. Schools were closed for Wednesday and Friday and it wasn't until Thursday evening that our neighborhood was plowed. We enjoyed the coziness of the day and didn't have time in those short 24 hours to get cabin fever. (By Thursday morning, we were easily leaving our driveway although I am still turning my minivan around in the driveway so that I can pull out straight/forward into the road because today, when they plowed again, they left a ridge probably 18 inches high across the bottom of our driveway. That was a long sentence.)

Food storage is a good thing. Visiting teaching and home teaching phone trees are also good things. (Really this wasn't a big emergency, but it did show us that we'll be OK if we have to hunker down at home for a while.)