Bear Lake Parade of Homes

Last Friday we went to the Bear Lake Parade of Homes for the 2nd year in a row. I'm pretty sure this is a new tradition for us because we LOVE walking through people's cabins and vacation homes. It feeds our day dream of one day owning a cabin of our own!

We left our house at about 10:15 in the morning and spent a good chunk of the day in Bear Lake. There were seven homes in the parade and with two kids in car seats, it was a lot of work getting in and out of the car each time! We went through a couple of homes and then stopped for lunch and a much needed break. Then we finished up the rest of the homes before getting ice cream and heading home.

It felt a little like they were desperate for homes to be in the parade this year. Two of the homes felt pretty cookie cutter, two other homes the families had been living in them for close to a year and "moved out" for the parade, and one of them wasn't a home at all, it was a resort that was still under construction and we walked through a work zone to get to the suite that was being shown. And the suite had a parking lot view instead of a view of the lake. Pretty strange! But we loved it all the same. The actual cabins made it worth it.

So funny story. Shasta was the first to get dressed that morning and of course she picked her "girl shirt" as she calls it (it has Strawberry Shortcake on it). Then I was looking through my closet and picked a purple shirt and told Shasta we were going to match. Then I jokingly said we should pick out a purple shirt for Daddy so all of us could match, but we didn't. The last one to get dressed was Shelby and I handed Nick an outfit and asked if he would dress her while I finished getting ready. The first thing he said when I handed him the outfit was, "I thought we were all wearing purple" in which I realized he had actually put on a purple shirt! So I picked out a different outfit for Shelby and we all wore purple to Bear Lake!

We got home from Bear Lake around 5:45 in the evening and met up with one of Nick's friends, Marshall, from Salt Lake, for dinner. He and his family were in Logan because he was running a half marathon the next morning. It was so good to see them. It makes me sad that we don't get to see them more often because they're such a fun couple to be around. We hadn't gotten together for 2 years (right after we had Shasta) and yet it felt like we had just been together last month. Nick and Marshall have a unique friendship where time and distance doesn't effect them. And Marshall's wife is amazing. I could talk to her all day!

We had a really busy day, but it was a lot of fun!

Shelby's 4 Months

Shelby is officially 4 months old. She had her wellness check and her doctor is pleased with her development even though she's only doing things that a 2 month old would do. As far as gestation goes she's right on target, but sometimes it's hard for me to see other babies her age doing things (like holding toys) and knowing Shelby is nowhere close to doing that. Her doctor also said not to start feeding her baby cereal yet because she isn't ready. I guess it's good that I wasn't planning on it!

Weight: 9lbs 9oz (0 percentile)
Length: 21.5 inches (0 percentile)
Head: 15.4 inches (7th percentile)


Here are some things that Shelby's been up to this last month.

• Started cooing and smiling. It's still few and far between, but as the month has progressed it's been happening more and more.
• Let out a little laugh a few times for Grammy Tammy
• Slept 10 straight hours 4 nights in a row. Then cut back to 6 hours a night. It was so surprising when she slept 10 hours straight because before that she was on a pretty consistent 3-4 hour schedule. Still, I'm not complaining about the 6 hours!
• Nurses like a champ...finally!
• Received her baby blessing from her daddy
• Still working on getting rid of her cradle cap
• Started taking a bath in the actual tub
• Likes to stand up
• Still doesn't quite fit into 0-3 month clothes, but wears them anyway
• Watches us as we walk across the room
• Loves to be swaddled still
• HATES tummy time
• Is terrified of going up and down the stairs facing forward. Even when she's facing into me she still stiffens up and holds her breath sometimes.
• Has pretty much lost all of her hair except for one long Alfalfa strip on top! 

Participated in her first Polish Party!

Comparison pic with her lion. Also this is a newborn outfit and easily my favorite one because it makes her feel so long and skinny. For some reason she seems extra cuddly in this outfit!

This is what tummy time looks like. She just buries her face in the blanket and screams.

Then when she comes up for air it looks like this!

Shasta looks so big!

I'm pretty sure this is the first time she's willingly slept with her head turned to that side. She ALWAYS faces the other way. I was worried her head was starting to look flat, but her doctor assured me it is a really good shape!

Size comparison in her rocking chair.

Size comparison in her car seat.

Shastaisms Season 1: Episode 2

Shasta really says some funny things lately. Sorry if this gets old to anyone else, but this is my way of "journaling" them.

The first morning of swim lessons she kept saying "swimming poop"... I think in place of swimming suit, but I'm not really sure.

One night we sang I Love to See the Temple before bed and afterwards I asked her if she wanted to go to the Temple. She said "Yes. And Meili go to the temple too!"

While flipping through a Sleeping Beauty book with older style drawings she said, "Jesus loves me" as she turned each page as if she was reading the story.

After peeing on the floor she told me, "I want timeout, I can't listen".

A few times during swim lessons she got tired of being told what to do or scared from being dunked and has said, "I want lead me, guide me, walk beside me". Meaning, she wanted me to sing "I am a Child of God" to her.

When she wants to brush her teeth she says, "I want brush my toothbrush".

While sitting in timeout after peeing on the floor I was asking her where she's supposed to go potty. After several responses that made no sense she said, "Because, I just paid Meili to go potty"!

One night while saying her bedtime prayers she said, "Bless dinner. And mommy's dinner. And daddy's dinner. And hotdog." The funny thing is we didn't have hotdogs for dinner.

Lately she's been calling me a silly goose, but sometimes she leaves off the silly and just calls me goose!

I rarely give Shelby a pacifier, but one day I needed to get some stuff done and she just wanted to be held. I put her on the floor and tried giving her the pacifier and she wouldn't take it. I told her, "Okay Shelby, if you're not going to take it you can't sit and fuss because I need to get some stuff done." Of course she started fussing as soon as I walked away and Shasta started yelling, "SHELBY, NO FUSSING. MOM SAID. SHELBY!!! I'M TRYING TO LISTEN"! What she meant by "I'm trying to listen" was she's trying to obey. We didn't have the tv or music on that she was trying to hear.

When she sneezes and I say bless you she says, "You bless you me?" Meaning, "You said bless you to me?"

She still nurses all her dolls and stuffed animals. When I ask her what she's doing she says, "I just feedin' bunny" or whoever she's holding.

When I was nursing Shelby, Shasta said she wanted some and came at me with her mouth wide open.Talk about sudden panic! Luckily she couldn't get to me with Shelby in the way. Seeing all those teeth coming at me sure made me nervous though!

She has a few random phrases that she's been throwing onto the end of sentences.

One day Shasta brought this toy to me and said, "Look mom, he's signing dad"!

Swim Lessons

Shasta started swim lessons at Sky View last week. The classes are 40 minutes long, 5 days a week, for two weeks for $35. Not too shabby! As of right now we have 3 lessons to go and I'm not sure if I'm excited or sad that it's coming to an end. It's been pretty exhausting, but a lot of fun too. Plus I love to swim so it gives us something to look forward to. And we have a friend in the class that we carpool with everyday so it's been nice to have someone to chat with everyday.

The first day Shasta LOVED it! She had a perma-grin plastered on her face the entire time! Then day two she just clung to me for the whole lesson and wouldn't do anything. It was mostly my fault because I dunked her right at the beginning (as per instructed) and she was afraid I would do it again so she didn't want to participate anymore. And there have been a few times that she's choked on the water and she's wrapped her arms around me, rested her head on my shoulder and said, "I want lead me, guide me, walk beside me" so while the rest of the class is working on techniques, we're singing I Am A Child of God!

Floating on her tummy.

Kicking her feet... although it looks more like synchronized swimming!

 Since then we've kind of bounced back and forth with good days and bad days. I've learned not to dunk her all the way under until the end of class so she'll still participate for most of the lesson. Some days she likes jumping in while sitting on the edge and other days when I put her up there she tells me, "I'm done" the whole time and doesn't want to jump in. She will do all the things we've learned in class, but it has to be on her terms. We almost never do what the rest of the class is doing because while they're doing it Shasta doesn't want to. When they're blowing bubbles she wants to kick. When they're floating on their backs she wants to blow bubbles. I figure as long as she's doing things we've learned in class then it doesn't really matter that we're doing our own thing. She's getting the practice either way.

You can see it a little bit in the picture. Day 5 of swim lessons we were getting dressed in the locker room after her shower and because she was still damp her pants weren't pulling up very easily. Her feet picked up off the floor and she face planted it onto the tile and split her cheek open. She cried for a few seconds and then was over it, but I still felt bad since it was technically my fault.

Loving it!

And hating it! We sing little songs like "Ring Around the Rosies" and at the end we're supposed to dunk them. She picked up on that real fast and freaks out when I start singing it to her!

Her most favorite thing is to hang onto the side of the pool and scoot along the wall. One day we went all the way from the 3ft deep end to the 11ft deep end. Then of course when we reached the far end she was tired and I had to swim back with her. That was exhausting to say the least!

Scooting on the wall.

Jumping in. Silly me, I should have put her on the other side of the net.

Swimming for Pooh!

Catching Pooh! (Nick tried to get a picture of her throwing Pooh, but someone walked in front of him right as she threw it).

She's in no way ready to swim on her own, but I've learned some good tools to help her learn how to swim! And I'm sure we'll do lessons again next year. And thanks Nick for coming to a lesson and taking fun pictuers!

***Revision starts here***

So it turns out I jumped the gun and should have waited for swim lessons to finish before blogging about it. Who would have thought those last three days would have things worth remembering?! Wednesday was a horrible day. I was grumpy and Shasta didn't want to participate at all. She fought me on everything which was only adding to my grumpiness. I couldn't even get her to sit on the side of the pool to jump in. She would stiffen her body and grip my arms until I had to pull her back down into the water.

Then Thursday it was like something clicked in her brain and she realized swimming is fun! It was probably our most successful day. She used my arm like a pool noodle (I held my arm straight out and she hooked on under her armpits) and swam all over. She even wanted to jump in over and over again. And this time she wanted to jump in while standing up instead of just sitting on her bum. She had to hold my hands, but she would leap off the side on her own. Before when she would stand on her feet to jump in she would stand up, then sit back down and push off.

But the last day is really the day worth mentioning. We started out with jumping in over and over because once again she loved it. Then our swim teacher asked if any of the kids wanted to jump off the diving board. I asked Shasta if she wanted to and at first she told me no. Then as we watched the bigger kids from another class do it I asked her again and she said yes! We put her in a life jacket and waited our turn in line. I walked on the diving board with her and when we got to the edge she wouldn't jump on her own so I handed her down to our teacher.

Then I got off the diving board and jumped in to get her. Once I was in the water with her I asked her if she wanted to do it again and she said yes!!! So we climbed back out and stood in line. This time when it was her turn I asked the lifeguard to help her and I jumped in the water to catch her. (I was straddling a pool noodle so I wouldn't sink once I had her)! Again she wouldn't actually jump off on her own so the lifeguard held her hands and dropped her in. And as soon as she hit the water she said she wanted to go again!!! So one more time she climbed out and got in line. This time I just stayed in the water which was a bad idea. She doesn't quite understand the whole standing in line thing so her turn was passed like 5 times over. The lifeguard asked me if she could just jump in from the side since it was time to go in a few minutes so we did that and she practically had a tantrum because she wanted to go off the diving board. I asked the lifeguard if it would be okay for her to go one more time and she said yes. This time the lifeguard helped her and made sure she got a turn rather than just letting all the other kids pass her by. She jumped off the diving board a third time (with help) and didn't have a chance to ask to go again because it was time to get out.

I was SO proud of her! She definitely didn't get her bravery genes from her mommy! I didn't think she would do it since she had to hold my hands to jump off the side. And even though she had help and didn't actually jump herself, she still asked to go again. I think I was more excited about her accomplishment than she was. She's pretty much amazing!

Shelby's Blessing

Can we all just take a moment to admire this precious angel in her beautiful blessing dress?

Nick's mom has made all of her granddaughter's blessing dresses and all of them are always darling, but I think this one is SO cute! Shasta's dress had Shasta Daisies on it which made it unique to her so we wanted to do something unique for Shelby. Her dress has "racing stripes" up at the top to match the stripes found on a Shelby Cobra (all Nick's idea, but I went with it)! I LOVE eyelet material, but it's really hard to find and since Shasta's dress was eyelet I wasn't sure I should use it even if I could find some. But I wanted her dress to be textured so I picked out some material that I hoped would be cute as a dress. I have a really hard time visualizing any kind of sewing project so even though Raylene thought the fabric I chose would be cute, I wasn't so sure. But when I saw it all completed I fell in love with it! It's such a cute dress and it makes me sad that she only gets to wear it one time (twice including formal pictures to be taken on a later date).

 My mom contributed to her outfit by making her adorable headband. She hadn't seen the dress yet when she bought all the stuff to make it, and when I sent her a picture all the stuff she picked out matched perfectly! Shelby's dress had little pearl bead work on it and my mom happened to put pearls on the headband. I think it turned out so cute!

This picture shows the racing stripes a little better. It's really something only Nick and I would look at and see the meaning behind it.

While I was preparing for Shelby's special day I wanted everything to be perfect. She had to be freshly bathed, fingernails clipped, toes polished, her dress perfect, her headband just right, and I wanted everything for the brunch to run smoothly. I just wanted the memory of her blessing to be absolutely perfect so even the smallest hang ups seemed magnified because it took away from the perfection I wanted.

Then when Nick carried Shelby to the front of the chapel and I watched as the men in our family and a few friends from our ward followed him, that none of the stuff I stressed over really even mattered. Seeing Nick hold our tiny daughter in his arms to give her a name and a blessing IS the most perfect memory about her big day. And seeing those important men in our lives stand in a circle around her is exactly the memory I should take away from today.

I'm so thankful to have a husband that holds the priesthood and actively uses it to better our family. I have witnessed him give countless blessings; to me, to our children, to extended family members, and every time it makes me emotional because it is such a sacred gift and it reminds me how blessed I am to have him in my life. I can't imagine a life without a worthy Priesthood holder in my home. And even though it was Shelby's special day, I think it was a pretty special day for Nick too to be the one to give her a blessing. And it was a pretty special day for me too to get to witness that!

As for the rest of the day. My parents came up from Arizona to support Shelby. They only got to be here for about a day and a half which wasn't even close to long enough, but I'm so thankful they got to come. Nick's parents, siblings, nieces, and nephew all shared this day with us too. After sacrament meeting everyone came back to our house for brunch. We had breakfast burritos, pancakes, hashbrowns, fruit, and cinnamon rolls. It was pretty delicious! Thanks mom for all your help in the kitchen and everyone that brought food to share!

Grammy and Papa

Grandma and Grandpa (and Ruby and Gigi!)

Today really was perfect.