5 months

Our baby is growing up:

Hannah is looking and acting older everyday. She loves her hands. If she gets fussy or unsettled we can give her a toy or something to hold onto and it will help calm her down. She likes having her siblings' attention and they enjoy giving it. Briton can get great giggles out of her. She is showing no interest in rolling, but she is sitting up well and is getting closer to sitting independently. She has many admirers at church and at a community play group we attend (both of which I appreciate when it translates into freeing up my arms for a bit).

Cleveland

Last weekend, we took a little road trip to the great city of Cleveland, Ohio so that we could see the following:

The NCAA Gymnastics Championships - Go Utes!

We love University of Utah gymnastics! They placed 5th this year and we were proud to cheer them on. (This poster was made by Briton and mom.)

Daddy! So I may be exaggerating a little (in implying that we don't get to see him already). We do see him daily, but the past couple weeks have been busy at work so we were pleased to have him to ourselves for a couple days.

Brian and Amy! We love Brian and Amy and we really love that they are only a few hours away so that they can meet up with us for weekend getaways.

Kirtland! There is nothing like some good church history sites to brighten up the rainiest of days. We think it is great that we live only a few hours away from this beautiful building and everything else in Kirtland.

It was a lovely weekend. Family, church and a good sporting event. That's the life. (Usually I don't put sporting events into those kinds of lists, but gymnastics is fun.)

PS We rented a house for the weekend. We did it last summer in North Carolina and we are deciding that it is a swell way to travel. It is much better than trying to share a hotel room with 3 children - and pretty economical.

Butterflies 2011

We took our annual trip to the butterfly garden at MSU. Usually we do that outing in March soon after it opens because I am so excited about spring making its entrance. This year is different. Oh, how I certainly want spring, but it didn't even occur to me that that the butterfly garden was open yet because it has been so cold. We would like to be done with winter, thank you. Anyway, here are the kiddos.

2011:

2010:

2009:

In other news, Abby is quite the bug lover. She picks up worms to save them from drying sidewalks and she takes the annoying wood bugs (that are somehow getting into her bedroom) and saves them by mercifully carrying them outside. (Every once in a while she'll say, "Mom, is it OK if I just flush this one?" "Yes, dear, it is just fine.") Briton is also pretty interested in bugs, but not up close and personal like Abby.

The best news of all though is that today it hit 80 degrees!! Unfortunately it'll be back down to the 50s in the next couple days, but it was so beautiful today. So so beautiful. I was reminded how wonderful Michigan weather can be. Hannah got to feel grass for the first time today! Love the tongue.

Conference Thoughts

Briton loved conference. Mainly he loved watching the movie on the "big screen". He'd get very excited as he got himself ready with a pillow and a blanket on the couch. Lest you think he sat that way for 2 hours times four...he didn't. He was sure cute to watch during his moments though.

Abby did well. She enjoyed doing crafts during conference and spent the vast majority of the time with Mike and I as we watched it. Her craft was called a "friddle". She folded a piece of colored paper in half, taped it shut, punched holes in it and stuck straws through the holes. We aren't sure if friddles have a practical use or if they are just aesthetically pleasing, but we think she is pleasingly creative.

Another thing (of more eternal consequence) about Abby: We encouraged her to listen to President Monson's Sunday morning talk. After it was over we asked her what it was about and she had recognized it was about temples. We told her that President Monson had asked that all the children have a picture of the temple in their bedrooms. That night Mike found a packet of a zillion (or maybe around 50) pictures of various temples that I had purchased way back when for a Relief Society project. We told Abby she could pick out a picture to hang in her bedroom. She picked out the Salt Lake and Manti Temples. Lovely choices. Since then, she has continued to choose more and more and now has a dozen or so temples taped up in her room. Her favorites are the pink temples - the pictures were taken at sunset so the temples and the background actually look pink.

I enjoyed conference a great deal. I loved the idea that when we serve alongside others, we accomplish more than just the service we are performing; we build relationships. I have seen that in my branch recently. I enjoyed anything that gave me ideas on how to be a better mom. And I love the temple.