the ONEder years

This beautiful girl turned one. 

The stats are in:

twenty one lbs fourteen oz (seventy fifth percentile)

thrity and one quarter inches (ninetieth percentile)

I honestly didn’t know quite what to expect when we discovered we were having a baby.  I was excited, nervous and a little scared.  Winter has taught us so much about love over this past year.  I absolutely adore her.  Life without her wouldn’t be the same.  I think about all I have learned from her in just one year.  I am incredibly excited for the coming years.

She is still a social butterfly to the extreme.  She has numerous friends of all ages (ages ranging from one – ninety) at church.  She does this adorable little “pageant wave” to everyone as she walks by.   I had two people today ask me the trick to having such a happy baby.  

She LOVES to walk and is getting really fast.

Her newest favorite foods are craisins, zucchini muffins, cantaloupe and honeydew.

She has growling wars with anyone who will play along.  I think she sounds like an ewok and it melts my heart.

She makes Mitchell and I laugh everyday. 

We attempted a little birthday photo shoot without much success.  Getting her to sit still was quite the task.  With some cheerios, we managed about thirty seconds worth of photos.

And then she was done.

eleven

 

I must say, 11 months is probably my favorite yet. 

But then again, I will probably say that about every new month milestone  haha.

She is learning and absorbing so much.

She has been dealing with a killer cold this past week, along with getting her TWO bottom front teeth.  So monthly photos did not happen this morning.  

She loves opening and closing the kitchen cabinets.  You better believe we bought some safety locks this weekend.

Winter is the center of attention when we go grocery shopping.  And she looooves it.  She knows how to flirt and people find it adorable.

Her preferred method of transportation is still crawling, but she has taken steps.  She gets so proud of herself when she successfully takes three or more steps, it is the cutest thing ever. 

Favorite food:  black beans.

I have been quite busy taking other people’s photos this month and I have realized that most of my pictures of Winter as of late have been with my phone.   That needs to change.  It is pathetic.

viva las vegas

We decided to exchange snowy Utah for warm Vegas last week.   Mitchell had a work conference so Winter and I decided to tag along.

It was pretty obvious that we had never been on a road trip longer than a couple hours with Winter, because we had multiple diaper issues.  Note to self:  put Winter in night time diapers on lengthy drives.   We are such noobs.

pee problems in the middle of the desert.

We made it to Vegas alive … not clean … but alive.

Winter fell madly in love with the curtains in our hotel room.

I was kinda creeped out our entire stay … I blame Stephen King.  

She is such a cute little human.

gummy gums.

Mitchell was in meetings all day, leaving Winter and I to our lonesomes.   The strip was calling our name … and we should have ignored it.  I went to the strip about 8 years ago and it was not with a stroller.  I didn’t realize that there would be soooo many stairs along the strip.  So most of our time was spent finding elevators and getting lost.

It was dirty.  It was hot.  I’m not into porn.  I don’t drink.

Like I said, we should have ignored the call.

Winter’s face says it all … we both felt the same.  So we booked it out of there, but not before getting lost in New York New York.  I will curse that casino till the day I die.

And just when I thought our pee problems were over .. this happened.  Winter wet my pants for me.  Yes, I deserve mother of the year.   The last thing I was thinking about while on vacation was changing diapers.  I must have unconsciously thought a vacation also meant a vacation from diaper changing.  Wrongo.   Not to mention this happened away from our room … and this picture does not do the damage any justice.  My entire crotch (crotch is such an ugly word) was soaked.  What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas right?

We stopped to visit my brother and his family in Cedar City on our way home.

Lynn, my sister in law, wined and dined us.  I didn’t take any pictures of the food she made, but man, it was good.  If we ever get crazy rich I will hire her to cook for us.  We had awesome cinnamon french toast,Vietnamese spring rolls,  artichoke pesto sandwiches, king crab dip, spinach salad and awesome pie made with berries straight up from her home state of Alaska. 

My brother has chickens.  This was my first time ever holding one of these creatures. 

It was semi scary.

We had to stop in Fillmore on our way home, naturally.

And look at this happy traveler’s face.  I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how happy Winter was during this trek.  Great job Winter, great job.

she is a perfect ten

10 months people.  10 months.

Winter has finally discovered how awesome food is these past couple of days.  She would tolerate it and eat three or four bites of something and then be totally over it.   But now she is actually eating and finishing meals, hallelujah.  I was getting worried that we would be buying formula for the rest of her life (my milk dried up a few weeks ago … TMI?  Perhaps)  But you guys, after nine solid months I can say, I AM PUMP FREE!  I am no longer a slave to the machine and its awwwwwwesome… except for the monthly formula bill.  BARF.  

Her favorite toys are: her beloved monkey and a tube of hydrocortisone cream.

She loves to imitate any kind of noises we make.

She can stand for long periods of time on her own but has yet to make a move in terms of walking.

Still no teeth.

 

Four generations (1928-2012)

This is How We Sushi Roll

I have fallen head over heels in love with sushi this past year.

I had never really given sushi a fair chance.  I had tasted it a couple times over the past five years, and it just tasted like swamp water.  Mitchell talked me into going to a little sushi bar close to his office and since then I have been hooked.  But, dang, those little rolls sure do cost a pretty penny.  Mitchell and I would probably need to start selling organs on the black market in order to support my sushi needs.  So we decided to try our very own sushi.

It turns out, Mitchell just may come from Japanese heritage.

We made 6 rolls with different combinations of cucumber, green onion, red pepper, carrot, avocado, imitation crab, cream cheese and jalapeno … topped with a little sriracha sauce, wasabi and soy sauce

 NOM NOM NOM. 

(do NOT attempt to eat sushi with any other kind of soy sauce besides Kikkoman … we tried and were terribly disappointed and made a special trip back to the store just to pick some up) 

It was pretty good considering it was our first rodeo in the world of DIY sushi . 

I’m calling it a success.

Spoiled Rotten

You guys.

Life just got super cool.

Mitchell surprised me big time for my birthday this year.  We have talked about getting one of these miracle machines for a loooong time.

Our family of three is now a family of four.  This blender holds a special place in our hearts.

We have made awesome vegan ice cream, numerous delicious smoothies, hummus, salsa, and soup.  We bought some peanuts over the weekend and I am beyond excited to make our own natural peanut butter.  Every morning I make myself a “Dr Oz Green Juice” smoothie. Man, I love this blender. 

Besides getting a blender for my birthday, I also received these happy faces …

My parents came home on Tuesday and Craig arrived Thursday.  It was like they had never left.   Quite the exciting week.  I really was spoiled this year.

My parents and Craig had never met Chipotle before. So we felt the need to introduce them.  They all liked each other and got along great.

Just look at those cute missionary dimples.  Welcome home Craig.

I have to admit, I was a little down in the dumps about turning 28.  I really don’t like getting older … but then Elder Packer chastised me this weekend and I have repented.   Bring on 29.