2013 firsts:
First house bought (May)
First surgery - Emmett's tubes (June)
First dog - Lola (June)
First bike stolen - Sam's (April)
First stolen bike found - Sam's (September)
First promotion - Sam (August)
First Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep session - Stacy (April)
First Primary program with a participating child - Caleb (November)
First Utah Baby - scheduled to arrive July 2, 2014
Updates on us:
Emmett:
Turned 2 November 30th and suddenly started talking a whole lot more. Now his sentences include "Peese Mama, chocolate?" and "Wing da wosie bah dow fass" (Ring around the rosies, fall down, fast) and other things that sometimes need a lot of translation on our parts. He likes to say big words like "rototiller," "helicopter" and "chocolate" and he doesn't like leaving out syllables, but it does take patience on the part of the listener to wait for him to finish his big words. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment this year is that he finally sleeps through the night! Took tubes, a move, and putting him in a bed (all in about 6 weeks) but he now sleeps well through the night in his own bed! He has also taken up a love of dancing and music and singing Primary songs since his birthday. He still likes to climb on things but doesn't end up falling off them quite as much as he used to. He loves to follow Caleb around and do everything "brudder" does. He loves to eat food (except tortillas) and often finishes his brother's left overs. He has turned into quite the ham and loves to make people laugh by doing silly things. He also laughs very loudly when he thinks he's funny or someone else is laughing, even if he doesn't get why. He loves to say "hi" to everyone he sees in the store, and sometimes in the cars next to us at lights. He gets disappointed if they don't say hi back though. One of his newest favorite things is the movie The Sound of Music.
This is Emmett's counting face - it's hilarious!
Caleb:
Turned 4 October 10th. He's been loving Sunbeams and insists he needs to take his scriptures to church with him every Sunday. He still loves getting dressed up for church - especially wearing a tie. He is still a chatter-box and some days talks almost constantly. As he grows up his conversations have become deeper. Some of our recent conversations have included: Satan, the main bad guy who wants other people to make bad choices, why killing Satan isn't the way to get rid of that particular bad guy, and what things make Satan happy and Jesus sad; Weddings, and how you move out of your parents house when you get married; Commandments; Bing Crosby - the best Christmas singer; and many conversations including the characters of The Sound of Music - his favorite movie. He got the DVD for SoM for his birthday and it was a big hit. I think in Caleb's mind the people in SoM are as real to him as his extended family and friends. "So Mom, if you are 16 you can drive a car, right? Can Liesl drive a car, Mom?" "Do you know what Little Gretel likes? Bunny rabbits! It's her favorite thing!" Perhaps his biggest accomplishment this year is getting up to bear his testimony in Sacrament Meeting in October. Daddy helped him and it was a sweet moment! He has been practicing to do it again, though last time he practiced he said, "Joseph Smith went to pray to Heavenly Father about which church to destroy....and Heavenly Father told him to destroy them all." He is not too shy about getting up in front of people and when it was his turn to give his part for the Primary program he said it as fast as he could before anyone could help him, and he had a huge grin on his face the whole time. He loves playing with and taking care of his little brother and is excited about being a big brother again. This year for Christmas he wanted "a blanket with cheese on it - not real cheese, just pictures of cheese." He decided Emmett needed one too. They got blankets with animals on them instead. He has a great imagination!
Sam:
Hit his year mark of working for Lifetime in August. He got a promotion, a raise, and a title to go with his job. Perhaps his biggest work accomplishment this year is a patent for a piece on a kayak. The job pays for the patent and all necessary work that way, but Sam's name gets to be on the paperwork. He went kayaking numerous times and sometimes would come home nearly complaining about falling in the river for his job. I don't have much sympathy those days. I can see his smug grin under the complaining, it really is a great job for him and he loves it. We rarely go a week without hearing about how wonderful Sam's voice is in our ward. He's sung several times and is asked to read quotes and 4 page articles in Sunday School. He teaches Elder's Quorum and is on the building cleaning management crew. He tried his hand at fixing sprinklers this summer and found something he really enjoys (and so do the boys - Dad lets them play in the mud while he works). He is loving having a large yard, fruit trees, and a dog (Lola). He spent a great week in the Wind Rivers with his parents and sister and brother-in-law in August. He enjoyed a work sponsored fishing from a kayak tournament this summer. He really does love kayaking! Lately he's been spending a lot of time taking care of the rest of us and the house when he comes home from work. He is pretty much super man and even got our jetted tub working today!
Stacy:
I finally got my application approved for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep in April. It was a long process, but mostly just a bit tricky getting my pictures ready for their specific requirements. Since April I've logged 12 sessions - one a twin session, and I went on one more shoot with another photographer for my first time around - so a total 14 babies for me this year. It was so wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. It is nice to feel like I have found a helpful service, but also sad every time a baby doesn't get to stay on this earth. I also got a closet up and going for angel clothes, Lily's Angel Closet. And it has been quite the project. It is a closet filled with love and every time I open it up I can feel all the love people have put into these outfits, blankets, and other accessories just spilling out. It truly is a beautiful thing! Since November I have been putting all my energy into our July 2014 baby. It has been some of the hardest work I've ever done and a lot of other things (almost everything) has been neglected because of this work. This year my Christmas wish was to have a few days of not feeling quite so awful and I got that! New Years has been rough, but Christmas was wonderful. At 14 weeks today I am really hoping for more good days coming up! I have been serving in Nursery at church and I am trying to really love it. I got a chance to play my flute for the Christmas program and may have made my own mark in the ward - apparently they have several people who play the violin, but none who play the flute.
Family picture in our back yard - a photographer friend of mine came and took pictures for us - so excited to have such neat backdrops in our own yard!
All in all, 2013 was a good year for us and we're really excited about 2014 coming up, especially a baby coming in July!
