Seattle...

July 6th-11th we spent time in Washington for Skyler to do some job interviews in Seattle. We had a blast playing along the waterfront and soaking in the sea air. I'm quite certain I belong along the water and Savvy's love of it all made it all the more clear that she is my girl.

The firm spoiled us with a night at a fancy hotel. I must admit that hotels are one of my favorite things when it comes to traveling. Savvy loved the leopard print robes and called them "ah, ah, ah obes." Translation: monkey robes. It was hilarious! We couldn't stop laughing. She insisted on wearing the robe all evening and morning. It was no bother at all the the robe was an adult XL size. Love our silly girl!

It is always fun when the hotel staff are sweet!

The gal at the front desk gave Savvy a stuffed animal as well.

Savvy sure is a lovable little girl.

Savvy rode the merry-go-round for the first time ever because she was so excited to see the horses. Turns out she only likes to see them. She was mortified and wouldn't get on until Skyler sat down with her on his lap and even then she wasn't terribly thrilled.

Savvy at the end of the ride laughing at the whole idea of sitting on a horse.

I had recently read the book "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" so I took advantage of the opportunity to go and see the Panama Hotel. The book is fabulous and seeing some of the sites was interesting. I wish our society didn't shun from learning from recent history. There have been horrible things in the world, but maybe if we didn't hide our mistakes so readily we would be able to teach our children how to learn from them and thus allow our children to avoid making the same mistakes on their own.

Present for Savvy...

We try to find one big gift for Savvy from us for her birthday and this year we settled on a table and chairs. We worked through a lot of ideas and then luckily I found a cheap set being sold by a gal on craigslist, so I quickly got to work. Best of all, I love giving her something that I have spent some of my own time working on and hope she will appreciate it for the effort as she gets older.

I love a great refinishing project! Someday in the future I hope to have my own project shed...far far in the future. :) This time I just had fun buying my own tarp and some sanding tools.

Birthday Girl...

Savvy is officially two years old! To start the day off right, Skyler and I went into her room when she woke and said "Happy Birthday" and quickly asked her how old she is...she was thrilled to answer "TWO" and show us her two fingers crossed. She had a huge grin on her face, framed by her adorable, crazy, morning curls. We all quickly ran to the living room and watched her open her gifts and discover her new toys. Savannah received lots of gifts and love from all of her family and friends. We really appreciate the thoughtfulness of those who were a part of celebrating her special day.

Savannah's birthday party was a story hour at the library hosted special for her. As the library story hour is one of her favorite things in the world, it seemed only fitting. Her birthday story hour was extra fun because Savannah had all of her friends at the library and she was right in her element. I played the role of the librarian and quickly jumped into "teacher mode." I loved watching her glowing face the entire time. The kids all seemed to have a blast with the songs and stories and, of course, their favorites were the balloons and bubbles!

It seems impossible to express how much we love our Savannah Madelyn. The last two years with her in our home have been wonderful as we watch her learn and grow and as she becomes a beautiful little lady.

June...

June went by in a flash! I don't want to forget about our fun so here are a few videos and photos to get a glimpse of our month.

2 June: walking at a park to take photos

7 June: Temple Square Family Home Evening

18 June: Hike Ensign Peak

(time at the top was short, but Savvy was introduced to going potty in the woods ;) )

19 June: Father's Day, Savvy's card to Daddy

We gave Skyler a globe from Pottery Barn for his office

25 June: SLC Arts Festival

Celebrations...

April 24th we celebrated Easter. It was great to be with some of the Tanner and Hinkins family in Orangeville. Savannah loved the egg hunt at Great Grandma Elda's.

April 28th we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at Tucci's (absolutely delicious) and spent the night chatting about how wonderful the last years have been and how much we can look forward to in the years to come.

May 3rd we celebrated Skyler's 28th birthday. Love that man with all my heart and it was great to celebrate his special day with many of our friends here.

May 5th we celebrated the marriage of Skyler's cousin, Tanner, to his beautiful bride, Allie. Their sealing ceremony was very touching and the wedding festivities were gorgeous.

May 8th we celebrated mothers on a fabulous Mother's Day. Skyler and Savvy treated me to a day of extra giggles and pampering. Motherhood is a tremendous blessing in my life.

note to self: Skyler will be the photographer on Mother's Day so don't change out of Sunday dress quite so quickly :)

More celebrations seem to be right around the corner . . . can you believe Savvy will be two in July?!

Today...

Today has been a long day full of exhaustion and wondering if I really am patient enough to care for children. Savvy had a rough night last night, and we are spoiled so those are few and far between around here, but it was a record breaking night. We slept for 3 hours and that was not consecutive. She wasn't crying constantly or seemingly uncomfortable, she just wanted to be with us in our bed or in her rocking chair and make sure we were comfortable by checking our eyes and noses and the like all throughout the night. When we would put her back to bed she would cry intensely as if something was wrong and knowing that she is on the verge of cutting another tooth and that she has had a tight stomach we didn't know how to react. Because she is my own baby girl I was still overcome by her sweetness in the middle of the night and how wonderful she can be as she cuddles me closely. I was able to snuggle her to sleep for the "night" at 5:30 am. I babysit a 22-month-old and a 3-month old at 6:30 am until 12:15 pm.

3 hours of sleep and 3 children under the age of two aren't the best combination. Especially when the 3-month-old was screaming and was so congested she couldn't take her bottle. The trick is her normal cry is much stronger than Savannah's blood-curdling I-just-hit-my-head-on-the-tile-scream. Needless to say I was praying for patience a lot today and inspiration. The patience came in waves and I finally found the inspiration. After the third time of holding the baby while she cried for an hour+ and the older brother waking her for the third time I finally fell on my knees and rocked the screaming baby while holding her little face with my hands and "shhhing" her softly in her ear. It seemed so extreme to me because I never would have had to do that with Savvy, but I have seen clips from "Happiest Baby on the Block" and thought I might as well give it a whirl. It worked. She stopped screaming. I cried a bit. She fell asleep.

Mothering is not for the faint in heart. I love my baby girl and I love the children I care for in other capacities. And you bet I am learning a lot about myself along the way.

Savannah Madelyn, 8 April

The bob...

I frequently miss having my hair styled in a bob. Today is one of those days.

Do I go back?!?!