POTATO PRIDE!!!!

Growing up in Utah, I always knew Idaho was famous for its potatoes. Mostly because it said so on the Idaho license plates. Little did I know that Idahoans love and celebrate their potatoes. I've lived here in Idaho Falls for 3 years now, and last year I discovered a little celebration in the small town of Shelley, 15 minutes from where we live. So, we went. Last year it was miserable, cold, rainy and windy and we didn't stay long. But I remember being really amazed at the turnout of people on such a yucky day. We watched the parade from our car and saw a huge line of people standing there waiting to get a free baked potato on our way out.

Well, last weekend, it was Shelley potato day again, and I was excited to go. The weather was beautiful and I was looking forward to taking Rebecca to her first parade. And what a first parade it was!! I was cracking up the whole time. Where else in the world do they have spud harvesting tractors going down the street in a parade? They had little trains with kids in them dressed in potato bags, with posters on the side boasting their potato pride. My personal favorites were "Darth Tater," "Spudzilla," and the float entitled "Tater Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The Shelley Russett Cheerleaders were there too. Those lucky kids who grow up in Shelley--they get out of school for 2 weeks to harvest the beloved spuds and then have this lovely celebration to end it all!! I'm feeling a little deprived that we do not have a celebrated fruit or vegetable or SOMETHING in Utah!

Well, after the parade, there are all these booths set up with crafts and other interesting things I love to look at. Also lots of good food. But my favorite thing is the spud races. Yes, they see who can pick up the most potatoes the fastest. It's great. Then they give out free baked potatoes with all the toppings. It is quite the festive day in the otherwise sleepy little town of Shelley. I don't know why it cracks me up so much that they go to all of this effort over potatoes, but it really does. It was a fun day, one of the true joys of living in Idaho.

2 Months Old

Here she is--HAPPY BABY REBECCA!!! I took these pictures on September 12, her two month old day. What a sweetheart she is. I'm glad I captured such great smiles! Usually by the time I grab the camera she is done smiling so big, or I take it at the wrong time.

She's Growing!

Rebecca is growing so fast! I chose a dress for her to wear to church today and asked Seth to put it on her. Well, he couldn't get it on her!! She just wore it a month ago, and that was the only time she'll wear it I guess. It's crazy how fast babies grow. I took her to her 2 month checkup a few days ago and she weighs 11 pounds 9 ounces. She is so healthy and happy, I feel so lucky to have such a good baby! She smiles all the time now, it is the cutest thing. And just today she has started babbling. Baby talk is so cute! She has been making this "whoo-whoo" sound for a while. I love it--it is her way of calling to me from another room when I've been gone too long. She is so cute, I just have the best time with her. I love being her mother.

Picture Day

I have now had my first experience with having portraits done of my child. WHEW!! Rebecca sleeps ALL DAY LONG, every day,no kidding. But not this day. She was awake all morning, took a 2 hour nap, and then was wide awake again. I was just praying she'd be awake for the pictures at 4:00. So I wanted her to sleep all she wanted before then. (as she usually does!!) Well she fell asleep on the way to Sears and I was dying. She stays awake all day until then! But getting her into the blessing dress is quite a process, and it woke her up. I'm so glad her beautiful eyes were open! She has been smiling so cute for me lately, but she would NOT for these pictures. It was like she was saying,"hey, I'm awake, what more do you want from me?" The pictures turned out so cute though, I can't wait to get them back and I just had to share them here.

A Beautiful Day

Rebecca was blessed yesterday. What a special day. We spent most of Saturday cleaning and getting the house ready. We decided it is a good thing to have these events once in a while, because it forces you to deep clean your house. We clean our house lots, but never really deep, so it was TIME!!! Today I'm liking my really clean house, but I'm sure it will be back to normal soon-not too clean and not too dirty either.

Sacrament meeting wasn't until 11:45, which was good because all our family and friends were coming from far away so they didn't have to leave too early. Seth's parents and my parents got here at 11:00 which was perfect. Seth's mom made Rebecca's dress from a pillowcase her grandmother made. The lace was handmade. What a treasure. It is so beautiful and Rebecca looked like a tiny perfect angel. My mom made a headband and I made her a bracelet. Seth's sweet grandma Wistisen (who died 9 months after we got married) made a white afghan for our babies. So our moms helped get Rebecca dressed and we headed over to the church. Seth gave her a wonderful blessing. He blessed her to be sensitive to the whisperings of the spirit and to have a love of the gospel and a desire to live it. She is such a sweet baby. She never made a sound the whole time. And the dress stayed clean--WHEW!! What a relief. I can not say that about some of her clothes! Seth was also called to be the teacher for the 7 year olds. He'll have fun with that. After the blessing, everyone headed over to our house. We didn't have as many people show up as we had thought would come, which was ok, it ended up being really comfortable in our little house. We had tables set up in our living room and we had so much food, it's a good thing we had the extra table in the kitchen with no one sitting at it. It was kind of strange though, usually when the Wistisen's get together, there are a lot of kids. But two of Seth's siblings didn't come and one family's kids were sick and the other family's kids were camping. So it was strange to not see them running all over, but I'm glad no one was running all over at the same time!! Anyway, it was a really good day. We love to have our families around, which does not happen nearly enough.