Ni hao...

幸福

(happy)

Halloween

你 好

Here lambie lambie...

Maddie always wants to help feed Indie, but the other day she forgot to lay her down first.

It reminded us of when we were little and we would feed Grandpa Rigby's lambies.

Thanks for being such a good helper Mad.

Indie update...

We went in for little Indie's 18 (okay 19, I am a little behind) month well check yesterday and she is just that...little.

She weighs in at 21.6 pounds and is 31 inches long, which puts her in the 10th percentile.

And her little head is still in the negative percentile.

Did you ever think that Tony and I would ever have a kid that was anything but "off the charts?!?"

The doctor is not concerned, in fact, he says she is progressing well and right on target, she is just little.

So here are a few tid bits about Indie at 19 months old.

*She has five teeth, two on the bottom, three on top.  She will literally take your finger off if you aren't careful.

*Indie likes graham crackers, bananas, cheese and rice, those are her favorites.  She likes most of the Gerber treats like puffs, dried fruit and yogurt bites.  For the most part she still drinks a lot of whole milk but at least we are done with expensive formula.

*She says da-da and na-na.  We are still working on ma-ma.  

*She will patty cake, peek-a-boo, snap, wave and blow kisses.  Just yesterday she started mooing when I asked her what the cow says but it is too soon to really perform that trick for anyone.  Tony doesn't even believe she does it because she won't do it for him.

*She can stand up to stuff for extended periods of time.  She will lean against this toy and play with her toys for like 30 minutes.

This is a picture from a few months ago when she first started standing up while holding on to  something.

*As of August she started riding in a big girl car seat.  She looks so grown up in it.  I need to get a picture of her in it.  

Right before we switched her over Maddie saw her in the old seat and said, "she is too damn big for that seat."  I guess if a three year old notices it then it really is time for a new seat, and yes, she did get busted for swearing (even though it was really funny).

Here are some pictures of Ind in her old seat.  I loved how she would hold on to the handle.  She would do it while we were driving as if she were holding on for dear life.

*When Indie was a few months old we had to bundle her for her to sleep and we would have to wrap her binki in too.  Dangerous, I know, but she has never been a great sucker and couldn't keep her binki in otherwise.  Finally mom said she had a feeling that we needed to stop wrapping her binki in.  Luckily Indie didn't mind being without it.

So for the longest time we could wrap her up like this and she loved it.  It was getting to the point that only Tony could wrap her tight enough so we decided the wrap needed to change too.

We thought we had weeks of horrible nights ahead of us, but again luckily, she didn't mind not being wrapped.  We did however revert back to using a binki.  Now we just lay her in the cribby with her ducky and her bink (which she holds in with her hand, see, not a good sucker) and off to dreamland without a peep.  Now that is a dream for me too.

*Ind loves her walker.  We gave it to her last Christmas but it wasn't until late spring that she started to get the hang of it.  She can maneuver around the house like a champ.  When the weather was nice we put her in the driveway and she just cruised.

I am so proud of our little boozie and the progress she makes every single day.  I was reading this post the other day and I felt that in a way it related to Indie:

 

"There’s no way of knowing what the future will be, and that, basically, I was asking the wrong question. She spoke of other burn victims, how well they’re doing now, what they’re doing now, the successes and happiness they’ve expressed to her. She told me that everything is different now and that things will never be the same. Ever. If we, as her family and friends, are constantly comparing her to the way she used to be, then we’ll never be satisfied. It will never be enough. If, however, we compare her to how far she’s come, each step of the way, and see the miracle that her body is in surviving and changing, then each success will be a leap, not an inch, forward from a devastating moment. If we say, Look how much better she’s doing since September!, we’ll be encouraged. Or, at Christmas, if we say, Look how amazing she is since Halloween! , we’ll find joy in her success, not frustration."

I don't compare Ind to other babies.  I just see the leaps and bounds she has made since birth, since last month or even since last week.  She has reached milestones in her life that we were told never to expect.  That, in and of itself, is a miracle.  

And who knows maybe by Christmas she will be walking and we will be able to look how amazing she is since Halloween.

All girls (and one boy) weekend...

I went to see Les Mis a few weeks ago and while I was there I thought to myself, "my sisters and mom would really love this."  So I got home and told them we were going on a trip.  We invited my aunt and her daughters to come along.

A few weeks later we were off to Vegas/St. George.

Getting ready to go...

Alicia, Cash, Chelsea, Lydia, Ashley, Joan, Mom, Lindsey, Cortney and Me

Viva Las Vegas Baby...

Of course we had to go to the Paris...

and eat at their delicious buffet...

Sushi, crab legs and shrimp.  Boo ya...

The part of this buffet that we love the best... 

CREPES...

Leaving Tuacahn after seeing Les Mis.  I loved it even more this time...

Cashy poo was the best little baby on this trip.  He didn't make one peep the entire time.  Okay, maybe just this one, but his outfit was so cute in this picture I had to post it even though he was mad.

We have decided to make this a new tradition so hopefully Paula and Monica can come next year.  And LeAnne and all the girls should make the trek too.

It was nice to get away and have some "me" time but it was also nice to come back to my babies.  Tony was funny and told me that I can't die because he would be really bored without me...

I'll do my best.

P.S. Check out Cort's post about it here.

Girls Night Out...

Dinner

Movie

Shopping

 Caramel hot cocoa on a snowy night

Laughing our heads off

Just what I needed

Thanks for the good times ladies.

This little piggie...

I am not sure what possessed us to do this, but here are the results.

Tony told me I didn't look very cute with a pig nose.  Thanks babe.  Hopefully I won't ever be in a freak accident where my nose ends up looking like this.

MGK and card club...

I was having one of those "if I have to cook slash clean up one more meal I am going to go crazy" kind of weeks.  

I felt like by the time one meal was finished it was time to start the next one. 

Thank heavens for the cooking club I am in.  If it weren't for the ready made meals that I just pull out of the freezer and pop in the oven, we would probably never eat dinner.  It really is a lifesaver.  It's a lot of work one day a month but we reap the benefits for the rest of the month.

Here are the meals I came home with this month...

Garlic Chicken

Beef Stroganoff

Cream Cheese Chicken

Tomato Soup with Tortellini and Cream

Sherry Chicken

Beef and Broccoli 

French Dip

Chicken and Biscuits

Aunt Shelly's Rockin' Salad

Chicken Tenders with Lemon Sauce

Oh and here are the meals from last month...

Pasta with Prosciutto and Peas

Asian Barbeque Chicken

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Chicken Green Chile Quesadillas

Shrimp and Sausage Kabobs

Cranberry Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chipotle Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Chicken and Corn Chili

Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork

The meals have really been stellar.  Click on any of the highlighted ones for the recipe, you won't regret it.  

Here are the last few months of card club goodies.  

The challenge was to incorporate flowers into a thank you card.  They all turned out so well.

Every few months, instead of a card exchange, Erinne puts together these adorable kits and we meet to assemble 5 or 6 cards.  The theme was weddings and the cards she came up with were amazing.  Thanks Erinne!

Workin' 9 to 5...

...well not quite.

I have a really sweet job.

I work for a company called Fusion Imaging.  It is a large format printing company.

You may recognize downtown SLC during the 2002 Winter Olympics, yeah we pretty much made all of that stuff.  The huge signs on the buildings, that was us... 

Our most recent venture...

...all the signs for the Body Worlds exhibit at The Leonardo downtown.

Here's the story.

About two years ago I was tired of the commute downtown so my cousins husband Joey got me a job at Fusion.  I worked full time until I had Ind, which was only about 6 months.  I took a few months off and went back to a very part time position.  I l.o.v.e. it.  They are so flexible with my schedule, I can go in as much or as little as I want...as long as I get my work done.  Sometimes I just bomp in for 3 or 4 hours a day, 2 or 3 times a week, and call it good.  It is great. 

I work in the accounting department so I get to see every job that goes out of that place.  And some are quite incredible.  I am in charge of a report that tracks what we sell and for how much.  Then, based off of that report, I track how much our salespeople make.  But don't even bother asking, because my lips are sealed.

So for all of the die-hard SAHM's out there that are cringing at the fact that I work, I must say this is not a permanent position.  I plan to, one day, stay home with my kids.  In the mean time I am contributing some money to the family until Ton starts making the big bucks (fingers crossed).  I will have you know that Ind is always with either Tony, Grandma Kim, Grandma Jack or Leash.  

It has been a great experience for Tony and Indie to have this time together.  They have created a strong bond that I think some guys unfortunately miss out on.  Tony can care for Indie as well as I can.  I love that.  And I love the peace of mind I have while I am at work, knowing she is in good hands.

Jerry Rice ain't got nothing on him...

Earlier in the spring Kim planted these beautiful impatiens in my flower box...

  At the time Indie wasn't very good at standing up by herself and her falls were usually straight back and right onto her noggin (now she kind of hits her bum and rolls so she doesn't really hit her head).  Anyways we wanted to take a picture of her by the flowers so we leaned her up against the little wall.  I was in front taking the picture and Tony had done the leaning and was coming to stand by me to get her attention.  Before he could make it to my side she had started to fall back.  Tony had to leap, literally leap, over our flower bed and do a Superman dive to catch her little head before it hit the ground.  All the while I am doing my best man scream.  It was hilarious.

So we got the picture but as you can see Tony is spotting her.

Good catch daddy.

Two for Tuesday...

My favorite figurines...

Willow Tree

I am in love with this line of figurines.  I am drawn to their simplicity and beauty; and I love that each one carries a meaning.  I have a few around the house that are important to me for different reasons and represent new stages in my life.

Conference weekend...

It was a rainy and lazy weekend at our house.  We stayed in our pajamas all day, ate delicious food, snuggled down and enjoyed general conference.

Conference was incredible, especially the Saturday morning session.  There wasn't one talk that didn't somehow apply to my life right now.  I just loved it.

A few favorites:

Neil L. Andersen

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, cute ol' guy

President Henry B. Eyring

and, of course, all the talks by the Prophet were awesome but it was especially cool when he announced the new Temple in Rome.

Now the wish I made at The Trevi Fountain really needs to come true again so I can visit the Temple there...

Christmas came a little early for Leash and Kev this year, so between sessions on Saturday we helped them pick up the piano that mom and dad gave them.

It was pouring rain and it took all seven of us to lift it but it was worth it.  It is beautiful and the kids are going to be playing like Mozart in no time.

Sunday morning we had Caramel Apple French Toast for breakfast.  It was amazing to say the least.  So rich you could almost serve it as dessert.  You can find the recipe here, thanks Sara.

To learn more about General Conference click here.

The maiden voyage...

I finally got a bike.  I have been saving up bonus money for the last few years all the while looking for the perfect bike.  We found one last year with all the bells and whistles but I had a hard time dropping 650 bones on a bike.  Luckily we hit a sale at Pedersens and found this bird fully loaded for half that price.  I was sold.

Kim gave me a trailer for my birthday so last week I put it together and we headed out on our first ride.  

I set the camera up to take a picture of us and ended up missing Indie's face and cutting my head off.  I threw the camera in the bottom of the trailer so we could take some pictures along the way.  I also put my water bottle in the bottom because I don't have a drink holder yet.  I thought about how that could prove to be dangerous but I ignored the thought and off we went.

After a few miles I decided to pull over and get a drink.  As I opened the trailer I could see Indie's feet soaking in a puddle of water along with, that's right, the camera.  I took it out of the sopping wet case and water began to drip from the battery area.  I dried it off the best I could and then held it in one hand while I biked home hoping it would air out.  

I called Tony in tears.  You see this isn't the first time we have had camera issues.  Tony dropped our last camera a few months after we bought it and we had to buy a brand new one.  Now only months later I thought I had ruined another one.  I was sick.  Tony was so sweet and just laughed when I told him.

Luckily after a weekend of drying out (and a prayer or two) it works.  I was so relieved.

Annelee gave us helmets for my birthday...

But Ind is refusing to wear hers...

The jury is still out as to whether she is digging this...

But I am loving it.

St. George...

We went to St. George over the weekend with Kim, the McKeans and the Bentleys.  The weather was perfect and we had a really fun time except for at night.  Our little stinker reverted back to a 3 month old and decided to wake up several times during the night.  

Indie and I were supposed to stay until Monday and Tony had to come back Sunday night for work on Monday.  I decided to end the circus a day early and the three of us went home on Sunday.  It turns out Boozie was coming down with a horrible cold.  Monday night she was all snotty and coughy, so that explains it.

Anyway, here are some pictures...

Playing in the pool with grandma.  She could reach the floor in the kiddie pool so she cruised around in her "water walker."

This is Indie's new cheese face.  I could almost bite her little cheeks off.

The little girl in the bottom left hand corner thought that this trick was so amazing.  She enlisted Tony in a talent show for kids that took place in the kiddie pool.  It was hilarious.

Aunt Mandi and Uncle Jimmy.

We went to Tuacahn to see Les Mis.  I love Tuacahn.  I think it is so beautiful and every show I have seen has been amazing.  Les Mis did not disappoint...I had chills.

So I think I can comfortably say that Texas Roadhouse is my new favorite restaurant.  I love everything from the peanut shells on the floor to the amazingly delicious rolls with magical cinnamon butter.  I mean just look at my dinner.  Chicken critters with a loaded sweet potato (honey, butter, special caramel sauce and marshmallows).  I had to take a picture of the lightly toasted marshmallows...hello.

Thanks guys for another fun trip.