eden these days

Eden is a fun and delightful kid. She also has a strong mind and can be feisty, feisty, feisty. She will lay her head on my shoulder and pat my back as quickly as she will arch her back and kick me in the gut. But interacting with her is becoming easier as her communication abilities grow. Her first vocal word was definitely "mama."She uses it to get my attention, or Cori's attention, or to ask anyone nearby for whatever it is she wants. She uses sounds to say "all done" and "bye bye." And, most recently, has begun nodding and shaking her head to answer 'yes' and 'no' to questions we ask her - an extremely useful development. These things plus the few hand signs she was using already give us a way to help her be happy despite the bouts of fitful behavior that arise from time to time.  Pictured above: Eden had absolutely no interest in sitting with Santa. She didn't cry or scream, she just wouldn't sit.

Her favorite activities of late: Giving random treasures a tote in the doll stroller. Looking at books. Pointing her index finger accusingly while at the dinner table. Following Grace and Grant around as much as she can. Emptying drawers and cabinets in reach. Sweeping the kitchen floor (with a broom and everything). Wandering the halls during the 2nd and 3rd blocks of Church - just three months until nursery time, so help me! Dancing when she hears music. Making animal sounds.

She loves to climb up and down the stairs. She'll climb up on chairs and run around on the couches. She is fearless about climbing around the play sets at the park. She isn't as crazy as some, I know. But we have to keep our eyes on little sis all the time.

She has a scowl that is famous with those who are around her. You would think I could get a picture of it. But she is able to go from scowl to smile pretty quickly. 

Eden has finally grown some hair! It is usually a crazy mess. I do try. I like to think the fluff of cornsilk around her head highlights those blue eyes. But people mostly comment on the hair.

 Her daddy is her favorite pal. I can't say I blame her.

me and cori

I have been so sporadic with the blog this year (a great resolution for next year perhaps?). Before the year is out I really want to write a bit about Cori and me. 

Several months ago, it was time to start looking around for Cori's next career move. Ultimately, we were faced with two really great options. One was an exciting opportunity that would have taken us out of Honeywell and landed us in Northern Nevada where we would love to stay long term. It was very tempting. We opted to stay put and continue our path with Honeywell for another stretch, something we feel will be better for him in the long run. It is a great new role for him here and, best of all for me, we didn't have to move! Let me just repeat that. For the first time in our married lives we did not have to pack a box, nor put our house on the market after just 12 months (or less) in our home. Its a big deal. We are super grateful.

Cori is still serving as our ward's Elder's quorum president. His dedication has been a service to us all. He gets out running and had fun playing on our ward's softball team a couple of times (regional champs!). He works hard keeping our yards looking nice. Who knew there was so much to know about desert landscaping? 

I feel like the last several months for me can be summed up into one word: running. I am glad to have been anxiously engaged in so many things. Most literally, I have been plugging along my training schedule for the half marathon I'm running with my sister in 3 weeks. Cori gave me one of my Christmas presents early for my long Saturday runs (pictured above). 11 miles feel better with some water and chapstick on hand. I'm at the top of the waiting list to be on our ward's Ragnar team for their race in February. Fingers crossed! I want to run one so badly. I've also been going to a boot camp twice a week. I'm feeling more and more confident about the race in January. And I have been eating every-holiday-thing in sight, so it is a good thing to have so much exercise every morning, I guess.

I have been teaching piano lessons for about 5 months now. I really enjoy it. I took on just three students. Gracie does a pretty good job babysitting, but I won't be increasing the load until Eden is older.

I have also really enjoyed my new calling in the Stake Young Women's presidency so far. There was so much to do and figure out right after we got called in. But now we have gotten through auxiliary training, a regional youth activity, and regional youth conference, and we feel like we are able to approach our responsibilities more proactively. This is good because we are already working on Girl's camp and there is trek coming next summer as well... The sisters I serve with are simply amazing. I feel like I have learned so much about about the YW program as well as Church administration.

We are really loving our life in Phoenix these days. It is nice to feel settled and at home knowing we will be here for another year or so.

cousin time

Cori's BIL, Cory, has work that brings him to Phoenix once in a while. This time Brittany and their three boys came along for a visit. I kept Grant home from preschool nearly the whole week and we had so much fun playing!

We took a hike. A certain boy was on a mission to peepee on a big cactus. Two other certain boys were happy to join the quest. I decided not to include the picture of mission completion. But they were pretty happy about it. Our hike landed us at the park.

Tiffany and Brett were here for a couple of days too. We ate dinner a la the fire pit,

and spent a day at the zoo.

We had a super fun night down in Tempe/Mesa. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was a huge hit with the little people. 

And then we wandered the lights at the (very uncrowded) Mesa Temple grounds.

We were so sad for them to leave! Good thing we get to see them again in a couple of weeks. 

Thanksgiving 2011

I didn't get very far catching up... I am determined to get some done today though! We had a FABULOUS Thanksgiving holiday and hope you all did too. We got to host my family. They all graciously agreed to travel to Phoenix. The weather stayed lovely for them and we enjoyed each other so very much.

The Saturday before their arrival, Cori and I got the Christmas boxes out. There are many purists out there who will snigger at me for this. But I love having Christmas set up for Thanksgiving day. Especially here where the Fall season leaves no stamp whatsoever on our surroundings. With the halls decked, things feel so cozy and festive. And, to me, the messages of Christmas and Thanksgiving are the same. We celebrate Christgiving, or Thanksmas if you rather, all month long. Plus, we wont be seeing my family over the Christmas holiday, so it was a nice setting to get some of our traditions in while we were all together.

One of these now-annual traditions is to do a little bell ringing. I didn't get a picture of it this year, unfortunately. My mom is a bell ringing enthusiast. She performs with a bell choir that is organized through the Methodist Church in our home town. Mom got a little color coded bell set for the kids to learn on last year and we have had a lot of fun ringing carols together. Grace was able to play all by herself this year.

Other things we did during their visit:

Playing lots of games, like Pretty Pretty Princess.

Making several potholders. Grace is a sucker for a project. She latched right onto the loom Grammie brought along. Potholders were successfully completed for all our guests by the time they left. And a trip was made to the craft store to buy Grace her own loom before Grammie went.

Lots of music. I feel blessed to come from such a musical family. We sang with bells. We sang with guitars. We sang at the piano.

Plenty of food. Our Thanksgiving spread was a huge success (if I may say so myself). I wish I had taken a picture of our turkey when it came out. Perfection! We brined it and then roasted it with a cheesecloth blanket that had been soaked in butter and apple cider. I also traded out green bean casserole for brussles sprouts (the Michael Symon recipe that was featured in last month's Food and Wine) and must confess that I was expecting to get some flak for it. But they were a hit. Other menu items included roasted butternut squash, spinach salad, pineapple and mustard glazed ham, my Grandma W*s butter rolls, herbed potatoes, apple pie, coconut cream pie, and pumpkin pecan pie.

I feel ready to eat it all again.

Everyone had to take a turn on Just Dance before pie time.

Visiting new places. We made a trip out to the Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale. It was so much cooler than any of us were expecting. There are hundreds of exhibits of instruments from all over the world. Each exhibit has the instruments on display as well as a large TV monitor that is playing videos of the instruments being used. Each ticketed visitor gets a set of headphones that automatically picks up sound from which ever monitor is closest. It was, ironically, the quietest museum I have ever been to. Sara, Cori and the kids are pictured above in front of the Steinway exhibit. It was fun to show Grace all about how pianos are made. ( And how I would love having, playing, and caring for a Steinway of my own! Maybe someday...)

The museum did have one exhibit for making noise. It is located on a separate floor behind closed doors and full of sound screens. That was easily one of the noisiest places I have ever been. Certain people loved it.

We did a few other things not pictured. 

Sara and I knocked out two of our training runs. We ran over 10 miles while she was here!

Cori played in a turkey bowl Thanksgiving morning. His cleats gave him a nice blister :( but he had fun.

Dad took us to dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Sassi up in the foothills of North Scottsdale. That place is n.i.c.e. and the food... Sheesh. 

We went to the movies and saw Hugo in 3D. All the big kids loved it. I found it particularly magical. My mom bawled nearly the whole way through. Grant and Eden quickly lost interest.

Thea shared some of her photoshop jedi tricks she is learning through the course of her college education. (None of which are featured in any of these pictures.) I would really like to take a class someday.

We also found a place in the neighborhood to take some photos. My friend who lives around the corner from this locale met up with us and snapped pictures on all our cameras for us. 

I love these people so very much.

The biggest treat of the holiday was just having so much time together. I can't remember the last time we all got to give so much uninterrupted attention to one another.

visits

In the week that straddled the Halloween weekend, we hosted some family. First, Cori's sister, Tiffany and her husband, Brett came for a couple of days. It was fun to catch up and have them to ourselves for a bit. I didn't take so much as one picture- drat! Looking forward to rectifying that when they move to Phoenix in a few weeks. Then, Cori's brother, Ethan, his wife and baby Megan and Joshua stayed for a few days.

We got out and about a bit more while they were here. One afternoon, Grace had a half day and Megan and I loaded up all the babes to venture down to the Chinese Cultural Center. Megs ordered us up a yummy dim sum lunch. I was glad she was there to do the ordering. It is always more fun to try something new with someone who speaks the language!

We wandered around the gardens and did some shopping in the supermarket there. Megan made us a fantastic dinner the next night.

Having Megan and Ethan around had innumerable perks. They spent lots of time playing with the kids. Ethan was itching to do some yard work. Cori enlisted his aide in raking down the bermuda grass in preparation for over seeding. They did a great job, and it was decided that we will definitely rent a power raker next year. Another incomparable service Ethan provided was that he made Eden so very happy. He looks, walks, and sounds very much like Cori and Eden is never happier than when she is with her dad. Ethan made her smiley every minute.

On our last afternoon with them, we spent the day at the Arizona Science Center. 

There is an English pub on the museum campus where we dined on shepherds pie and fish and chips. 

Thanks L*s! We are so glad you spent some of that precious vacation time with us!

blessings

I have so much to catch up on. Have to start somewhere. We have had weeks and weekends with visits from family and old friends. We spent an evening at the State Fair. I've started a training schedule for the half marathon Sara and I will run in January. And I joined another boot camp. In an effort to bring some balance to my life, I am determined to document a little this week! But we are grateful to be anxiously engaged. Lately I've been so in love with my mommy/wifey life. I am especially grateful for these mental snapshots:

• Grace sharing her testimony for the first time in sacrament meeting a couple weeks ago. She started asking about doing it last month and so we had a family home evening centered on the event. That fast Sunday morning Grace was all smiles. We sat in church and she asked me over and over when it was her turn to go up. As soon as the mic was turned over to the congregation Grace walked straight up. She began "My name is Grace L* for anyone who doesn't know me. You might know my parents, or my brother, Grant..." She then proceeded share very sincere and unrehearsed feelings about her Savior. It was hard to not to laugh and cry. Sweet girl.
• Grant singing nearly every word of nearly every song in the primary program. We had no idea that he knew the songs so well, nor that he would be so happy singing them whilst seated in the front row. 
• Eden's current fascination with sitting on things. She spots her target (someone's lap, a pillow on the floor, a random piece of paper, toys of all shapes and uncomfortable sizes) and backs up to it until she senses she is in position. Then she lowers herself. Most of the time she makes it. Even she gets a kick when she misses.
• Cori's smiling face when I came home yesterday night. I had been away and it had been a long day. But Cori made dinner, cleaned up the house, and kept the kids blissfully happy. Then after the children were in bed, we made pages of lists. To do's, menus, shopping lists... so excited for the holidays.

halloween 2011

Maybe someday, I will produce the Halloween costume lineup that my kids request. The master plan this year was to feature Grant as Peter Pan, Grace as Wendy, Eden as Tinkerbell, Cori as Captain Hook, and me as (drum roll please) Mr. Schmee. Well, Grant got to be Peter pan at least. Eden got to wear the lady bug stuffs that I made for Grace years ago. And Grace was particularly thrilled with this flamenco dress. My parents brought it back from Barcelona for my youngest sister some 15 years ago. When Grammie brought it with her on her last visit, we put it directly into the lineup.

Girlfriend was not happy about having her picture taken.

We enjoyed ourselves at our ward's trunk or treat.

Fortunately, I took pictures of our pumpkins the night we decorated them. The carved ones didn't make it to Halloween night before spoiling. Thank you, Phoenix.

Grace and Grant got to wear their costumes out and about a few times. Grace went to a Halloween party hosted by one of her classmates, and Grant's preschool had a party. 

Trick or treating on our block is just the best. Most of the neighborhood is decorated. Our back yard neighbors turn their garage into a spook alley. Neighbors sit out on their driveways with their buckets of candy to see all the children dressed up. 80% of them made Grant out to be a Robin Hood, an identity he was pretty happy with by the end of the night.

Other happy things we did to celebrate: watched a few movies - Hocus Pocus, The Haunted Mansion, Coraline {so weird!}, and the Nightmare Before Christmas; turned the pages of our favorite Halloween books - Walter Wick's Do You See What I See on a Stormy Stormy Night and Haunted House Haunted Mouse to name a couple; listened to a reading of Edgar Allen Poe's Berenice on SYSK (did this on my own); consumed many festive treats.