Playing ball with Rhett

Grandma Cheryl and Adeline play ball with Rhett during our most recent trip to Missoula. Oh how I love her little giggles and excitement.

5th Anniversary

Five years ago today we stood in Idaho's Clearwater National Forest before a small gathering of our family and friends and vowed to love each other always. That weekend at the Lochsa Lodge was truly my dream wedding...the fresh snow, all the family and friends, hot springs, the good food, music, the decorations, fireworks, the bonfire and most importantly...JD.

And here were are today, five years later. So much has changed yet remained the same. I feel blessed to have shared so much and grown alongside JD. Marriage is joyful, difficult, wonderful and constant. We both make each other better people and accept God as a party in our marriage. And after having JD all to myself for 4 years it's so wonderful to now have Adeline in our family. We look into our future with hope and excitement.

Perfect day at the Bowl

Snow-covered trees frame Matt and Scott as they wait to drop into the East Bowl last weekend at Missoula's Snowbowl. Truly perfect snow and weather conditions made last Saturday's ski day one to remember. My parents watched Adeline all day so that JD and I could celebrate {early} our anniversary.

Not only did we get a break from the baby but we returned to our favorite winter sport. After taking a break from downhill skiing for 4 seasons we finally hit the slopes. In December of 2006 JD and I were in a car accident that left me with a broken neck and JD banged up with stitches. So needless to say we took that year off the slopes. JD boarded the next year but I was still not confident in my neck. The next year we had plans to ski together but then came pregnancy. So here we are, 4 winters later and we finally got back on the downhill together.


One of the best parts was JD and I got time to ourselves without Addie. As much as we love her it was nice not having to change a diaper for 9 hours. We also were lucky to have good friends to ski with, we joined up with Matt, Scott and Patrick. The icing on the cake was before we took our first run JD met up with his former boss Pat (JD worked at Snowbowl when I met him in 2005) and the boss treated us to FREE lift tickets Saturday.


Besides the snow conditions being perfect, JD and I have been lap swimming so we were in great shape to handle a day of skiing. I went into the day not wanting to push myself too hard -- aka no black diamonds please -- but as you can see from the pictures we skied not one but many black diamonds. Ending our day skiing the East Bowl.

And...to make our day even better when we finished skiing we joined our good friends Matt and Tera at their house for dinner. My folks dropped Addie off and the five of us celebrated Matt's 31st Birthday. Tera and Matt cooked up an Alaskan Crab feast and we played folf on the Playstation...what a perfect end to a perfect day.

Top teeth

They're here...and in full force.
So far she has kept them to herself and hasn't bitten me yet.

Animal sounds

It cracks me up when Addie imitates animals.
She's getting the knack of it little-by-little.
Her first animal sound was for dog...."oooof oooof oooof"
Next came for rooster...."cock-ooooooo"
Then came kitty...."ma-mooow"

Oh baby

Baby girl has been a little under-the-weather these past couple days. And for a baby who is usually not sick, this time was a doozy. Between Sunday and Monday Adeline and I had to change our clothes 10 times collectively. I have never seen her puke so much! And I would admit I even went out in public with baby puke on my pants just to get my sweet one some Pedialyte.

3.7 magnitude rocks Helena

As I lay in bed awake at 12:52 am - after rocking a baby back to sleep - I started to feel rumbling build up from under me and then the whole house moving and shaking. I looked over to see my bedroom door burst open....and I thought to myself I think there was just an earthquake.

JD was in the basement playing Call of Duty (he now works the night shift so it's not uncommon for him to be awake in the middle of he night.) When the rumbling started JD thought it sounded like someone was pushing the dinning room table across the floor above him then the sound of his game was drowned out by what sounded like a train. When JD ran upstairs he found closed bedroom doors still swinging open and a bewildered look on my face.

We both agreed that we were glad to have been awake in the middle of the night to feel the earth move. In the midst of our early morning excitement, Addie lay fast asleep.

read more about the quake here and here

Walking every chance she gets

Check out Adeline's walking skills...she is improving every day.

Mama drama

Mama drama...part 5: It's almost dinner time. Addie is in her high chair watching me put the final touches on our meal. Then all at once it seems everything gets crazy...all four burners are going on the stove then a pot boils over, then the bread timer rings, Addie gets frantic and she starts yelling, Ziggy runs into the kitchen followed by Zihua who pukes on the rug, meanwhile Addie drops her toy near the cat puke so I toss the toy into the dirty dishes pile on the counter only to watch as it lands in a frying pan of grease leftover from the morning's bacon. Oh my what a mess it was!

Orange kitty

Adeline was lucky to have a visit from her Grandpa John this week. While he was visiting he took this awesome photo of Addie with Hobbs.

Yum yum yum

No joke, this is how Adeline eats when she's being fed something delicious. She opens her mouth so wide she gets this hilarious double chin, stretches her arms straight out to the sides and grunts a little. In the photo, JD feeds Addie some birthday cake.
The amount of food Addie is now consuming is amazing us. And the food she finds most appetizing is what's really amazing. The other day she turned down peaches, macaroni and cheese, and tortillas (which she usually loves) and the food she opened her mouth so so wide like the photo - a zucchini and broccoli medley. Gosh I love that our girl loves veggies. p.s. If you look closely you can see Addie's new top tooth (which she got on Christmas Day)

The buttons go in front right?

Too funny, dad put Addie's dress on backwards.

Adeline's third day of walking

Addie's walking skills are improving every day. Today we watched as she crossed rooms on two feet, chased the cats and took many tumbles.

Adeline's second day of walking

I recorded this video after lunch today as JD, my friend Amanda and I were entertained by Addie's new walking skills.

First steps

Oh my gosh Oh my gosh Oh my gosh....Adeline took her first real steps today! She has been standing alone since Christmas but had never moved her feet. The big event happened this afternoon, her and I were in the living room playing, dad was in the kitchen doing dishes - I turned around to pick up something and I heard JD shout "Addie just walked!" He just happened to be watching from the kitchen as Addie let go of her toy and took two steps to her high chair. Wow. In hopes of me seeing this milestone too I quickly put her back at the toy and sure enough she took another two steps and walked to the high chair. Between JD's laughter and my squealing Addie didn't know what to do, so she fell on her butt. Isn't life amazing? Only a couple months ago she learned how to crawl, now she is learning to walk. As my friend Sarah said, "welcome to toddlerhood." And as my mom said, "good luck." Our lives truly are about to change.

Today is my birthday...

Today I celebrated my 29th birthday. It was an amazing birthday. JD was such a wonderful husband. He made me a delicious breakfast, gave me kisses and hugs all day long, made me lunch, went and picked up my favorite drink...a fountain cherry coke, watched Adeline so I could get a massage, took me out to a nice dinner AND he did ALL the housework. What a thoughtful, loving husband I have. I was also treated to numerous phone calls, texts, cards and emails today, thank you family and friends! Now I'm off to enjoy the last year of my 20s. I'm going to start by playing some cribbage with JD then staying up late watching movies....while eating cake!

Happy New Year -- 2011

Uncle Tom and JD sit with Adeline at the table after a lovely New Years Eve dinner last night. My parents came over from Missoula with Tom and we played games, ate yummy food and were generally entertained by Addie. And for New Years Day we played a hilarious tournament of old-school Mario Cart. And yes...just like in our childhood, Tom won.