Doce {And also Uno!}

I've been dreading it big time.  My baby is one!  But lucky for me, she such a little peanut that she only looks about 8 months old, so let's just pretend, okay?

She got to celebrate her birthday Big Sky style, livin' it up in Montana.  Quite a place her grandparents rented out for the big birthday celebration;).

We spent the day spelunking at the Lewis and Clark Caverns.  We were going to leave Molly with Grandma, but decided to bring her along at the last minute.  She was a trooper.

The cake turned out a little lopsided - apparently the oven in the cabin wasn't quite level (which seemed odd to me cause it was like a $5000 oven - why not bother to take the ten minutes and level it?).  No worries, though, we just added extra frosting to that side and passed out those pieces to the frosting-loving kids.  

When Cole turned one, his birthday cake was pretty much the first time he had cake.  It was kinda old hat to Molly cause her dad and sibs have been sneaking her bites of good stuff for months!

 

 

And then she opened a few presents.  But actually, everyone else opened presents while she sat there cause that's what happens when you are surrounded by lots of very excited older siblings and cousins.

  

 Molly is such a delightful little thing.  She is a dream baby and we all adore her.  At one year old, Molly:

-Is very tiny.  I bought her two outfits for her birthday.  They were both 6-9 months and a little baggy.

-Loves people.  While we were in Montana last week, she would immediately through her arms open to people whenever she entered a room or they entered the room. 

-Sleeps pretty good.  She usually only wakes up once a night which is leaps and bounds above her brothers.  They were the worst.

-Takes some steps but isn't really an independent walker yet.

-Jabbers so cute.  "Ah-diddle-diddle-diddle."

-Loves eating raspberries.  It will be a sad day when we can't go out and pick breakfast from our bushes every morning.  

 

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl.  Molly-Dolly.  MollyPop.  Mollserati.  Baby Sue.  Little Love.  Goochie.  Cutsie Tootsie.  Hot TaMolly.  Rati-Roo.  Miss MaGooch.

Birthday Girl #1

We were partying hard at our house last week with three birthdays to celebrate!  First up was Annie's seventh birthday.  I wasn't really planning to have a big  party for her cause we were leaving on vacation the next day, but that girl is a born party planner.  She decided to have a watermelon eating contest at her party and I said that would be fine and before I knew it I was inviting friends and building a watermelon piñata and making watermelon cupcakes.  I'm a bit of a pushover is what I'm saying.

So the friends came and after a few quick games, we busted into the piñata. 

 

Everyone got a sufficient supply of candy and prizes and then we played a few more games:

Exhibit A:

Ben lost, but with a smile so it's all good.

Exhibit B:

She won, of course.  By a landslide.  No one else lasted more than 3 seconds.

Next up, the watermelon eating contest.  Her original plan was to get everyone their own watermelon but I was able to convince her that was both a little costly and also likely to make everyone sick. I thought a flock (herd? group? harem?  who knows) of vampires had descended on my yard as they slurped and sucked their way through while red juice dribbled down their faces.  

 

 

Even this little angel got in on the fun.

We chased down the watermelon with cupcakes and watermelon slushies while Annie opened her gifts.  And then went out to splash in the water because why have a July birthday and not do that every year?

To finish off the night, we had a visit from Grandma Rose and more presents and cake.  Little Annie knows how to party.

 

Happy Birthday, Annie Rose!  We love you to pieces.

Bear Lake

We had a gem of a day up at Bear Lake.  It's such a great summer spot if you get lucky.  Some days it's too cold or windy or blazing hot, but we were spoiled with a perfect day.  

There was lots and lots of sand.

Lots and lots of water.

Lots of lots of smiles.

 

 

And even a couple lucky lobster catch (or crayfish if you want to use it's real name).

 

Can't wait to go back!

Ragnar IV: Team Akusamo

I ran Ragnar last month.  Our team started out as a bunch of my cousins and their spouses, but as happens when you have to register a year early, we lost a few along the way and ended up with mostly my cousins plus my sister-in-law (who we convinced one week before the race), my old babysitter, my friend Diana (cause that's how I do my Visiting Teaching - don't you wish I was your Visiting Teacher?), and somebody named Laura who none of us actually knew, but it turned out okay cause she wasn't crazy.  The race was great, minus some serious traffic delays.  I was runner 3 this year and my favorite leg was the last one, an almost-8 miler from Kamas up past Jordanelle.  I like those hills.  I was totally dreading it, so it was a pleasant surprise to like running it that much.  

It was fun to meet up with my cousins at various exchanges along the way.  My favorite part was when Lori asked what her last leg was and Kelli pointed to the mountain you see in the background of this picture.  Lori thought she was joking and it took some convincing and pointing to runners on the mountain before she realized Kelli was serious.  I shouldn't take such joy out of that moment, but Lori did awesome so all's well that ends well, right?

Raspberry Days

Oh we have been lucky little kids the past few weeks.  I don't know enough about gardening to know why, but some years are on years and some years are off years for my raspberry bushes.  This year is an on year.  From the oldest to the youngest, we are berry lovers. 

 

It's a fight every day to see who gets to pick the most berries and even little Molly gets in on the action.  I think all this berry picking has been good for her dexterity.  She's pretty good at pinching those little berries and popping them right in her mouth.

 

She's also pretty good at sneaking into baskets and stealing them all in a little fistful. 

 

We've made 12 bottles of raspberry jam and all kinds of raspberry desserts and loved every bite of it.   We don't mind if raspberry days last a little longer this year.

Once

 Little Precious Peanut.  Eleven.  I'd like to say she's just growing like crazy, but she's really not.  We need to break out the cream and butter diet for this teensy babe.  She is, however, getting older right before our eyes.  Life with Molly at 11-months is:

-A lot of stair climbing.  She makes an escape for them every chance she gets.  She's pretty good at going up.  Last night she climbed them while carrying three of Annie's shoes and tonight it was three forks.  She even knows not to go down, but she rocks her little knees right on the edge waiting for someone to grab her and it gives me heart attacks.  This month, we are going to teach her to turn around at the top and go backwards.

 
-She takes a few steps here and there, but is a ways from really being a walker.

-She loves it when we put her in her bed at night.  She grabs her pink bunny, snuggles up to her soft silk blankie, and then rolls over to her mobile so you will turn on the sounds.  She still wakes up some at night, but she goes back to sleep pretty easily.

-She added a new word to her vocabulary - cukoo.  She loves the cukoo clock at Grandma's house and can say cukoo when she wants to hear it sing - which is about every other minute.

-She likes music and dancing.  I always love the bouncing to music stage.  It's just so cute when their little bums bounce up and down.

-Her favorite game is peek-a-boo.  It always makes her smile.  She can also play pat-a-cake and blow kisses and point to people in response to "Where's Dad/Cole/Annie/Ben/Mom?" questions.

Oh Darlin', don't you ever grow up.  We just adore you to pieces, Baby Sue.

-

Things I Miss #35: Childlike Faith

Faith was so much easier when I was a child and sometimes I miss my childlike faith.  It came so easily when you believed all Bishops were perfect, all choices were black and white, everyone who made bad choices was evil, and the church itself, if not the people in it, was perfect.  Sometimes, I think my parents were too good and made life look too easy.  I have a pretty blessed life myself, but it is disillusioning to look around at my friends and neighbors and family and see the things they struggle with.  Somehow, it's easy as adults to lose sight of our faith.  I don't pretend to know exactly what faith is or what the best way to nourish it, but as an adult, I've found my faith is different.  When I was a child, I doubted nothing.  As an adult, I try not to be too skeptical, but some things and some people just pull the skepticism from wherever I've tried to bury it.  

I've been serving in the Primary for almost three years.  I don't really ever want to serve any where else.  I love being surrounded by the faith of children and just teaching the simple doctrines of the gospel.  Last year, we spent the summer memorizing the Articles of Faith any my faith was strengthened as I reviewed the simple basics of the gospel.  The songs we sing teach such profound truths and doctrine and I know the children will learn so much about the gospel through the Primary songs.  We never have to wade into anything too controversial in Primary..  I guess in some ways wading through controversy is necessary, but I feel happier when I focus on the basics and don't worry too much about the details (that's kind of my general approach to life, so I guess it's no surprise).  I know the scriptures teach that we should become as little children and I've found the best way for me to do that is to be surrounded by them.  On my best days, my faith is solid and secure and never doubting.  On other days, I feel tossed about with every wind of doctrine.  Even on my worst days, I feel like I've seen too much evidence of God and the truthfulness of the gospel to deny it and I don't have to look far to see how much happiness comes by choosing to follow gospel principles and the teachings of our prophets.  I'm forever grateful for the lessons I've learned in life, but when I'm surrounded by children, I miss having faith that had never been doubted or tested.