Happy Halloween

I obviously don't have pictures of Clara in her costume yet, so those will go on next week's blog. After this week's happenings, I should change Clara's costume. Clara should dress up as a mother. She would make a great one. This week after I was done feeding Addi her bottle, I set it on the floor so I could burp Addi. Clara saw me put it down and immediately went to get it. She then stood up and tried to put it in Addi's mouth. When I was done burping Addi, I put her on the floor so I could take a picture of my motherly little girl. I let Clara play about another minute with the bottle because I didn't want Addi getting mad that there was nothing coming out. After I took the bottle to rinse it out, I came back and found this: Clara had gotten her doll's bottle and was taking turns feeding Addi and then the doll. What a smart girl!

Clara has learned the sign for more this week. She is also learning the signs for thank-you, all done, and shoes. She's signed thank-you and all done a couple of times, but isn't consistent enough yet to make me thinks he knows what it means. It has been so fun to watch Clara catch on to signing. The only problem is that since she learned eat first, she'll sign it whenever she wants something that I'm not understanding. Most of the time she really is hungry, but every once in a while it means something else and she gets frustrated that I'm not meeting her needs even though she thinks she is telling me exactly what she wants. I'm just grateful she is so quick at leaning sign. It has drastically cut down her screaming time.
Have a great Halloween everyone!

Bishop Maki

I found out this afternoon that a close friend passed away. Terry Maki was my bishop when I was a youth. He influenced my life in so many ways, especially during a time in my life where the decisions I made plotted my life's course. He always believed in me and gave me the strength I needed to make correct decisions. I would have to go get a hug from Bishop Maki every time I went to Libby. He was is a great man and will be missed.He's been sick for years, but still made it to my wedding reception. This picture was taken at my Libby reception. He showed up a little early and ended up helping set up including making a trip to the store to get some needed items that he wouldn't let us pay him back for. I'm grateful to have rubbed shoulders with him in this life.

Look a like follow up

KSL Studio 5 just announced their Sarah Palin look a like winner. And the winner is... (insert drum roll here) Stephanie! Thanks to all of you who voted for her just because I asked you to.

In other exciting news, Clara took her first unassisted steps last night! We are so proud of her.

Sarah Palin Look Alike

Stephanie Harris is in YW with me. I am also her visiting teacher, so I feel the need to help her win. :) Stehanie decided to be Sarah Palin for Halloween and she ended up being in the top 5 for a Sarah Palin look alike contest. The contest was state wide, so she is in the top 5 in the entire state of Utah.If you think Stephanie looks like Sarah Palin, please go to: http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=23&sid=4539170 and vote for her.
The voting ends Sunday Oct. 26 at midnight, so please vote now!

Learning

I am amazed at how much Clara is learning. Clara can now give kisses when asked. She always gets a smile on her face as she gets to give Mom, Dad, or her baby a kiss. She has also learned how to click her tongue. She is very proud of her new sound, and continues to click as she happily plays. Clara has also learned the sign for eat. She will now do it when she gets hungry, which makes my life a lot easier.I love that she is making connections. She is starting to watch our every move and do things like we do. When I give her a spoon to eat with, she tries to use it correctly. She hasn't been able to get it right yet, but she it trying to!

First Snow

Jeremy and I were given tickets to the BYU game on Saturday. It was supposed to snow while we were there, so we dropped Clara off at Keri's house and packed all our warm winter attire to the game. Thanks Keri and Jon for watching Clara so that we could enjoy the game. Luckily the skies were clear the whole game and there was no snow.Notice how you don't see very many people behind us. We were at the very top of the stadium. There was only one row behind us! I'm amazed at how well we could see the game despite our nose bleed seats. We had so much fun. The snow came that night though. We woke up Sunday morning and found this:I love the first snow of the year. It seems so clean and fresh. I love crunching the snow beneath my feet as I walk on it. There is something about leaving the first snow prints that gets me really excited.

By the end of the week though, it was sunny and warm. It was up into the 70s! Silly weather.

Clara's First Birthday

Clara's great day was a busy one. We celebrated between conference sessions. She had a great time until her actual party. I guess we held it too late or she really doesn't like big crowds. Either one, it was hard keeping her happy. She cried through most of her party. I felt bad for her and all the guests. Oh well, it's her party and she'll cry if she wants to.During the day, we had her practice opening gifts by having her open her birthday gifts from Jeremy and I and those that came in from people out of town. She caught on really fast.But by the time her party came around, she didn't care anymore.

Oh, finally a gift that stopped her from crying!Thanks Uncle Michael and Aunt Genevieve. She loves her doll. It's the first toy she reaches for. She pats it, hugs it, and even tries to play patty cake with it.

When it came time to eat cake, she threw her cupcake off to the side and didn't want to have anything to do with it.I finally gave her a piece of it, but she spit it right out. I even had her try the frosting. So in pictures of her with cupcake on her bib, she got the cupcake there by spitting out the piece I gave her to try, and not because she got messy from enjoying it.

She did however love Daddy's ice cream.One of the few smiles we got from her that night was when Uncle Matt said hello.Even though she doesn't like cake, she loves cheesy chicken and rice! She downed it in a matter of seconds.I couldn't believe it. She'd rather eat real food than junk food. (Really that is only true when the junk food is a cupcake.) Then the other night we had some very yummy chicken. I put both chicken and green beans on her high chair tray and she would only eat the green beans! I just hope these eating habits stick!

Clara is 1

My little baby turned 1 yesterday. I can't believe how fast this last year went. She is getting so big. She does so much on her own now, and even gets mad at me when I do things for her. I'll post more about her party and things later, but I wanted to show pictures of her through the last 12 months. Happy Birthday little Clara!

Newborn

1 month2 months3 months4 months5 months6 months7 months8 months9 months10 months11 months1 year

Clara's Favorite Day of the Week

OK, so I'm not really sure if it's her favorite day of the week, but she definitely has a lot of fun on laundry day. I couldn't ever get a picture of it, but Clara will push the laundry basket all around the house. She loves being able to walk without being stuck to the furniture. It's a new sense of freedom for her, and it keeps her entertained until she runs into a wall and is gets disappointed her "walker" is broken. At that point, she puts on the clothes that are in the basket. Here is a small fashion show she put on for me.

Here we have Clara showing us that socks can be used as a waiter's towel. Here we have Clara showings us that socks can also double as scarfs.And here we have Clara showing us how good socks can make our shoulders look.Also this week, the Young Women had a temple trip. I was able to go with them. Even though I didn't really help out (other than be a driver), I still loved the experience. We have such a good group of girls in our ward. I loved spending that time with them.