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.)

Hannah is 2 months old today

My other children have not gotten their pictures taken by an animal each month, but we're going to give it a try with Hannah. (I even set up email reminders for me to do it, because otherwise I could possibly fail miserably.) She definitely looks older this month.

Hannah is a calm baby. Abby would say (in a great Abby voice that I can't imitate in print), "She's a sleeper!" She sleeps through the night about half the time and takes lots of naps. Abby and Briton still love her. Abby always wants to be where she can see Hannah's face and Briton likes to put his blanket on her. (That is very nice of him because he really loves his blanket.) She eats well and is growing a lot. We think she's a keeper.

Some pictures followed by an update

Here is assortment of pictures. The next post is an update.

Whenever Briton sees Hannah on the floor on a blanket, he has to lie down next to her. (Speaking of Briton, Mike just informed me that he went potty in the toilet twice today. Way to go, buddy!)

The kids love to go out and play in the snow.

The work party was a mad hatter affair. Costumes are out of my comfort zone, but this simple little thing was perfectly acceptable.

Here I am with the kiddos on my birthday.
Hannah is cute. Enough said.

Us

We have not posted recently. My laptop died (ie was almost dead) and our camera died (ie is almost dead). So I haven't been too motivated to make the effort to post. It is much less convenient when all the hardware is almost dead. But, alas, here is my update:

Hannah - Hannah is growing well and behaving herself. In 31 days she gained 27 ounces. That's pretty good. (I've been told the goal is somewhere between .5 to 1 ounce per day.) She has slept through the night twice now. Yay! Last night she slept for 9 hours. When she doesn't sleep through the night she wakes up once around 3 or 4. I am grateful for sleep! Hannah is a well-loved and her siblings are great with her. She looks just like them, too!

Briton - Boy, do we love this little guy! And, boy, is he busy. I have to keep very close tabs on him or else I will find my computer key-less, my oven full of pots and pans (at least he wears oven mitts when he's filling it up) or Briton in the garage or on any number of countertops. (We are keeping the door to the garage locked these days.)

Abby - Abby started attending preschool after the holidays. So far she is really enjoying it. I asked her what her favorite part was and she said, "I just like everything!" She qualified it by saying she liked the snack and playing in the kitchen in the playroom. Then she said, "Just everything, mom! Just everything! More than one thing, mom! Just everything!" We're happy she likes it. She is a bright little girl and surprises us with all she is learning. She also has a great imagination. Here is a conversation from today:

Abby: Mom, let's go downstairs.

Me: Okey dokey, artichokey.

Abby: Mom, I am NOT an artichoke! I am not an artichoke!

Me: You're not? I always thought you were an artichoke.

Abby: I am not an artichoke. An artichoke is a food and I am a p... (note: this is where I expected the word person to come into the conversation, but no...) porcupine! Actually, not a porcupine. I am a hedgehog.

Me - I was spoiled for my birthday with a new laptop. I am now the proud owner of a cute little red netbook. I love it! And the keys are not easily removed like my last one.

Mike - We have been spoiled lately to have Mike home a lot. Due to Hannah's arrival and all the holidays, this week was the first in a very long time that he worked a full week. Last night he and I went to his work party and they spoiled us with a very nice dinner and a few little "gifts".

We're happy. Lots of spoiling going on. I'll get some pictures on too. And find a camera on eBay. :(

A Look at our Christmas

Christmas is great. Thursday night my brother and sister-in-law came into town from Ohio. We have been happy to have them staying with us. The kids have been in heaven. Here they are on Christmas Eve after putting on the new jammies.

With a new baby we are well equipped to act out the nativity.

Hannah's first Christmas...

Abby's expressions are priceless. Her Christmas was made especially complete with ring pops and a My Little Pony. (She also got a big girl bike that she's very excited about.)

Briton loves cars and things that move. He also enjoyed his new tent and tunnel. He is engineer #2 in our family and is always examining things to figure out how they work.

By the way, the build-your-own-marble-run toy was actually one of Abby's gifts. She loves playing with it as well. It is just as bit a hit with the adults!