April

I think we are finally hitting spring in Ohio. Everything is turning green and it makes me very happy! This is a picture from our backdoor. Right behind this wooded area is a big highway so when it's all filled in with leaves, etc. we get our sound barrier back. Yeah!  

Claire is also getting so independent. I went to a huge kids sale this past weekend and scored the doll stroller for .50 cents! She LOVES it! The first day she would push the doll around and sometimes purposefully knock the stroller over. Then she would say, "oops," lean down and kiss her baby and pat her on the head and keep pushing. It was cracking us up! (I also got the shoes she is wearing in this picture for .25 cents!)

Claire decided one day that she was now going to crawl down the stairs. I had practiced with her a little but it wasn't clicking so I didn't push the issue. One day she just didn't want me to carry her down the stairs and has done great!

 

Claire LOVES to be outside. Thankfully we've had some great days here. She loves to go walking along our little townhome neighborhood. She has to point out every flag and flower we see.

The walk is now glorified (for Claire) because she pushes her baby in the new stroller as we walk. I have to admit it is pretty darn cute!

 

 

Claire has had a few falls on our walks. She always jumps right back up and keeps walking. The only exception was today I put her in some new sandals and she tripped crashing to the ground. She scraped her head, toe, and ankle on the ground. Definitely a sad girl. :(  

I have been watching my friend's little girl, Madelynn, on Wednesdays. Recently her babysitter flaked out so now I will be watching her M/W/F for the next three weeks. I don't mind babysitting every once in awhile but I definitely am not the type to run a daycare. (Long days) It's been a little rough on Claire mostly because Madelynn is not a very content child. I think it's because she has been passed around from several babysitters. She doesn't cry much but has a loud screaming growl she does often when she is frustrated.

The upside to babysitting is the money I am earning makes it a lot easier for Claire and I to fly to Utah and Idaho this summer to see the family.

Shaun took this picture of her crazy hair but I just love her smile. It's hard to get her to stay still long enough for me to get a good picture so I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

Lastly, Claire has become quite the phone talker. She will talk and jabber on and on to people- especially my mom and Shaun's mom. It is really funny because she listens intently and then answers like she is really telling you her opinion. I can't believe Claire is just about 20 months old. We are so grateful for such a sweet girl!
I'm really looking forward to a fun summer with her. :)

Claire 19 months Old

Claire is such a fun playmate! Here are some of her new tricks!

 

 She loves to play. "in and out." Basically putting things in and then taking it out again. She is actually pretty creative with where she thinks of putting things. Thankfully she hasn't discovered the toilet, I don't want to be fishing things out of there just yet.

 

 This was the best picture I could get of her. She loves to run and play. Sitting still for mom to take a picture is out of the question unless Shaun is home. She has learned a lot of new words lately. She will say, "help/up" those kind of sound the same, ball, go, strawberry, Auntie, dog, cat, Jesus, temple and eyes. She LOVES to look through the Friend magazine. This month is was all about temples. I was amazed that after I showed her the temple on the cover she found all most all of the others on her own. She even spotted the picture of one in our house. The other day as we were getting out of the car there was a really old, fancy church next to the store...she immediately said, "temple." Very sweet.

She is a great Visiting Teaching companion. I visit a sister that is over 30 mins away. She also is pretty chatty so it is a several hour ordeal. This one day, on the way home, Claire had fallen completely asleep reading her animal book. I couldn't resist taking a picture before I got her out of the car. Thankfully I was able to transfer her right into her crib for an awesome nap. I don't like her to sleep too much in the car, but when the situation is out of my control, I'm grateful she is pretty good about going back to sleep. :)

 

Claire is just such a cutie and getting so big! I love that she can communicate more and express her feelings. She still HATES getting her diaper changed and hates the idea of eating but once she is in her highchair she usually will do pretty well eating some of her food.

 

Also, She is awesome at folding her arms to pray. We have been practicing saying, "amen" at the end of the prayer. Well, during conference she was getting a little confused because I was saying amen. Towards the end of the second session (almost 3:30 our time) she just kept saying, "amen...amen." I think she thought it would be over if she said, "amen." So cute! She definitely was a trooper.

We sure love this girl!!

Happy Birthday Shaun!

Shaun's birthday was on April 6th. Since he was going to be out on his birthday we celebrated a little before and after. I decided to take in a cake to his lab. Thankfully I told him prior so I didn't have to keep it a surprise. He requested I make a new recipe he found for a coconut cake.

The first time I made the cake I was so excited because everything was going so smoothly. The batter tasted amazing and it cooked great. Unfortunately although I followed the directions Shaun failed to mention that I should line the cake pans before cooking because the cake would most likely stick.

Sure enough. As you can see it came out in pieces. :(  

 

 

Later that night I made round #2. It came out much better. Shaun had already agreed to cut the layers and make the frosting. Look how beautiful it turned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Shaun enjoying his last piece after the trip. Even though I put it in the freezer while he was gone it was dry. The other sad thing about this cake was the amount of butter the frosting called for.

Even though I only had a small piece, my stomach couldn't handle it I ended up not keeping the cake down. Sadly, I can't even look at this cake now without feeling sick to my stomach. So sad!

 

Where was Shaun?

 Shaun had such a *rough* birthday. He had to spend it in California looking at cool plants. :)

He got to visit 13 different companies and see their latest and greatest.

It was also a great networking opportunity for future jobs!  

 

We definitely missed Shaun on his birthday and I know he missed us, but California isn't such a bad way to spend your day. In the evenings they got to check out the beach and local attractions.

Happy Birthday Shaun!

 

Lately

Is anyone out there? I feel like maybe blogging is "going out of style." Since I am not good at writing in a journal (lately) this is the next best thing. I will try to blog more often for my family's sake.

 

The highlight of the month was definitely having my parents & Joseph come and visit. Claire LOVED having so many people to play with. She is saying a lot more words (go, boo, nana, papa, auntie, daddy) and loved to give Nana hugs and kisses. Claire was enthralled with my 9 year old brother, Joseph, and followed him around everywhere. She even learned how to say his name while they were here.

Claire was so patient with all of the driving and touring. Since Ohio will most likely not be our permanent location my family wanted to check out Kirtland, etc. So they came over spring break.

 We met my sister and her family in Eyre, PA at an indoor water park called Splash Lagoon. Before the trip I knew that Claire enjoyed bath time but while there she absolutely loved swimming! Even though she was a little cold she wanted to stay in the water and play with out me holding her. I definitely need to take her to the pool this summer. We had a great time seeing Collin & Daphne. We swam, went down crazy slides with Joseph,  and enjoyed the wave pool. It was quite the place.

The next morning we had an Easter egg hunt in the hotel room. Claire didn't know quite what to do but she caught on.  

 We had a great time with the family!

 

It was sad to see everyone go but thankfully the next day we had an outing already planned. Our ward had a little Easter egg hunt/ potluck. This time Claire was a pro. The trickiest part was trying to walk on the uneven ground. We had a great day time even though it was a little windy. 

  

Happy Easter!