Kristy and Rebecca

Easter

2010-04-05T14:54:00.001-07:00

After I told her not to take bites of butter...
Baby chicks

Cousins and sugar cookies

Rebecca dumped all the sprinkles on one cookie. Nice.

Easter dress

Coloring Eggs

More baby chicks

She got to pet one

The Easter basket

Egg hunt!

Rebecca loves her cousins.

LAS VEGAS

2010-02-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

Rebecca and I went to Las Vegas last week with my parents. It was such a fun trip! And I loooovveeedddd being somewhere warmer. It was jacket weather, but so much nicer than it is in Idaho right now. We saw lots of fun things...lots of aquariums, This awesome show about aliens on the ceiling of this building on Freemont Street

New York New York!
Excalibur (Cinderella's house, as Rebecca called it)

The M&M store

Rebecca was so excited to see the lions, she talked about them all day until she finally got to see them. Too bad all they did was SLEEP! It was fun to see them though.

When we were here, Rebecca called, "Oh Cinderella...where are you???" She is so funny.

Fountain show at the Bellagio

The longest chocolate fountain! Awesome!

My dad carried Rebecca everywhere on his back...bless him! It was nice to not have to worry about her or try to keep track of her in the crowds. She did really well on this trip, I was so happy about that!

Here we are in Caesar's Palace...my favorite place in Vegas, I decided. Most of my pics inside casinos turned out pretty dark, too bad. There were some really neat places there though, it was fun to see them.

Rebecca's first carousel ride. She LOVED IT!!! And she cried when it was time to get off.

Our hotel was so nice, it had a kitchen in it, and Rebecca and grandpa had a good time lounging around watching cartoons.

Breakfast was delivered to our room every morning. Yum!

Rebecca and grandma at a cactus garden, very interesting!

We are so spoiled!! Thanks for the fun trip, mom and dad! Now it's back to the snow, ugh. And back to life at home. We missed Seth, and wish he could have been there with us. But, he is in school. Las Vegas is sure a crazy place with lots to do and see. It was a fun trip!

Projects

2010-02-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

Here are the shirts I sewed hearts on for Rebecca for Valentine's Day...I love to sew, and I love holidays and making them fun. So now she can wear these all month. They turned out cute. And of course they are eating their fruit loop necklaces....a daily ritual lately....make necklace, watch sesame street.

The heart hairdo!

The most frustrating craft I've ever done. But it is DONE and in the end, it turned out ok.

Goodbye January!

2010-01-27T13:52:00.001-08:00

Aside from a quick trip to Utah, January was a pretty boring month...I can't say I'll miss it when it's gone in a few days. Here are a few pictures from the month though.... Seth was gone putting up Christmas lights in Jackson on New Year's Eve (Random and weird, yes.) So Cinderella and I had our own party. She couldn't blow hard enough for the noisemaker to make noise, so she went around making her own noise. Much confetti was thrown. Happy New Year.
We made cookies. Rebecca loves to help. I went to fold a load of laundry and thought she was watching a movie. No. She was shoving as many cookies in her mouth as she could before she was discovered.

Better to get out the camera sometimes than get mad, huh?

I'm not too fond of the snow, but thought I should be a good mom and take my kid out to play in it. But every time I ask Rebecca if she wants to go out and play in the snow, she makes me so happy by saying, "No, it's too cold." So she doesn't want to...I'm fine with that! Well, one day when I wasn't babysitting, I thought, we need some fresh air! So I dragged her out there (she of course informed me that it is too cold,) and then stood there while I walked through the snow and showed her how cool snowballs are. She was unimpressed. I wrote her name in the snow. She ignored it, but started eating some snow. I got out her sled and pulled her around the yard. After she fell out of it 3 times, she said, "Mommy, let's go inside now." Well, at least I tried. There's always next year for fun in the snow! This year she is not a fan. She is definitely my kid!

And these two....they are so funny. This week, they have had so much fun making necklaces. Usually we make it out of fruit loops, but today since we were talking about the color yellow in our little preschool, we made star and circle necklaces. I'm really impressed with how good they can thread things onto yarn. It takes them a while, but that's ok...it keeps their little hands busy, in a good way! Now if I could ever get them to BOTH cooperate and look at me for a picture.

Rebecca informed me she was done with picture taking and wanted to go swing in the basement instead. Calista agreed.

This is one of Rebecca's cheesy faces lately, she usually does it when I've caught her climbing (her favorite thing to do lately).

Funny girls. I Can't wait for February...I've been working on some fun crafty decorations and shirts for Rebecca. Plus it is one month closer to spring, my favorite season!

Spoiled on Christmas!

2009-12-27T14:15:00.001-08:00

Here is Rebecca with all her loot! What a fun Christmas we had together at home. We slept until 8:30, who knows how many more years we'll be able to get that much sleep! Here's Rebecca when she first came out and saw everything.
She grabbed her trunk of dress up clothes first and had to get herself all dressed up pretty. This has not stopped. She has got to be dressed up ALL THE TIME!! This is definitely one of her favorite presents.

And here is her other favorite...a car! She had to have Daddy put it together right after she opened it. And she was right there helping the whole time. She couldn't wait to have the steering wheel put in. It took about half an hour in the middle of our present opening, and she was so cute and happy to have her new car.

We went to visit cousins later that day.

Rebecca brought her new tea set and had a tea party with Emilee

Dressing up again.

Here is her other new Christmas dress that she wore to church today. Adorable.

Seth set up the swings from outside in our basement a few days ago, and the girls are soooooo happy about it! So am I, something different to do!

They were so excited for Christmas.

And now the year is over! It's been quite the year, I'm excited for 2010! Happy New Year, Everyone!

Christmas at Grandma's

2009-12-22T14:13:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was our traditional family Christmas party with Seth's family. Can you tell Rebecca was excited to be there?!?!? She is so fun this year, just loving everything about Christmas.

Here is sweet Grandma Wistisen, who worked so hard to make such a nice, fun, delicious, spiritual and enjoyable day for her children and grandchildren. We all had such a great time.

The white elephant gift exchange. Rebecca chose the perfect gift for herself...

A whole box of ponies!!!

Seth's sister Tina made us this beautiful Christmas quilt. She is so talented.

The cousins' Christmas pageant. Seth's mom made all their costumes, which were beautiful. The kids did a great job, it was really sweet to watch and remember the gift of Jesus Christ and His miraculous birth.
Here is Rebecca the angel, handing baby Jesus to Mary.

Rebecca and all her cute cousins.

The Pinata! We do a pinata every year out in the garage. The kids go crazy, it is funny to watch. Rebecca understood exactly what to do this time, it was great!

And here is my little Christmas Elf, always willing to help in the kitchen. We made cookies last night for our friends.

She is just too cute.

And extra helpful when she wasn't trying to eat the dough! Funny girl.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Christmas!

2009-12-06T13:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I am 30 today. Crazy...I don't feel that old!

I'm happy December is here, such a fun month. Here is Rebecca on Thanksgiving. She was more interested in dessert than dinner, silly girl. I feel that way sometimes too, though. Just not on Thanksgiving.Since it is Christmas time, I feel even more crafty than usual, so I made these cards. I just had to take a picture before I send them all away, they are so cute!

My parents gave me a sewing machine for my birthday! So here is my first project with my new machine, I've wanted to make a holiday shirt for Rebecca for so long! So this will probably be the first of many holiday shirts for her. It was fun and easy to do, and I made some cute matching hairbows out of ribbon scraps I had.

Feeling Festive!

She was so excited to sit on Santa's lap. She is definately not shy!

I love decorating my house for Christmas. Rebecca loved it this year too. She knows which ornaments are hers and plays with them and re-decorates the tree every day. There's something about having a Christmas tree all lit up in my home that just makes me happy.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care

I dressed Rebecca up and curled her hair and made some more hairbows, and prayed the whole time that I got her ready that she would cooperate so I could have a good picture to put in my Christmas cards. And look what I got!

This was very exciting to me! Because this kid does NOT sit still longer than 2 seconds. EVER! Unless there's a movie on of course.

Merry Christmas! I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-24T16:17:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends!!! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is so good to have a day to think of our blessings. I've been thinking of mine this whole month, and my heart is so full of gratitude. The Lord really does take care of us. Last night for Family Night, Rebecca and I made this turkey and it didn't take us long to fill up the feathers with our blessings. Anyway, the turkey turned out really cute. That's the only turkey I know how to make, thank goodness for moms and grandmas that know how to cook a real turkey! I'm excited for our Thanksgiving feast, one of the best meals of the year! And here's something else that is cute...Rebecca in the snow. She loves it!!
I'm not a fan of cold and snow but just like everything, Rebecca makes it a lot more fun.

I did it!

2009-11-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

Well, here is the quilt I made for Rebecca for Christmas. It is beautiful and when I look at it, I truly can not belive that I MADE IT. The last time I touched a sewing machine was in 7th grade to make the ugliest windsock ever. I saw this quilt pattern at the beginning of this year though, and I was in love. I HAD to make it! I guess this goes to show that you can learn to do anything! I'm really proud of it, and Rebecca loves it. She always pretended to smell the flowers whenever I'd work on it. THANK YOU to Seth's sisters and mom for helping me step by step. I could not have figured it out on my own!

Other than that, not too much is going on. I spend my days with these darlings.

I'm remembering how sweet little babies are...there is nothing better in the world than cuddling with a sleeping baby. I love it.

My days are a bit hectic and crazy at times, but it is good to be busy. It is exhausting some days, I'm always doing something for some little person.

Calista is Rebecca's best friend. She looks forward to her coming every single day. On the weekends she is so bummed because it's just me and her. She is such a social little girl. She loves to play and dance and talk. She and Calista have the funniest conversations.

I break up plenty of fights, but most of the time, they just love each other, it is so cute.

Seth started a new job installing garage doors at night. He registered for school, starting in January. I've been making all kinds of pumpkin desserts and hanging onto fall as long as I can. I'm not looking forward to the snowy cold winter. We're excited for next week when we'll be able to see our family and have fun together.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-03T14:20:00.001-08:00

We made spider hats for fun last week. Here are the girls saying, "AHHHH!! Scary Spider!!!" They are so funny. The best part of Halloween was that Grandma and Grandma came up to be with us! We had a fun weekend together. Here we are-the three Lynns, as my aunt calls us- (Lynn, Kristy Lynn and Rebecca Lynn) carving Rebecca's pumpkin.
She was very interested. Each year is just better than the last. This was such a fun Halloween with her!

She had been waiting and waiting for this day, to paint her face green and be a little witch. Everywhere we went the past week or so, she'd tell people, "I'm going to be a witch. Paint my face green!"

Here's Rebecca and Grandpa at the Trunk-or-Treat. Rebecca caught on to the Trick-or-Treat concept really quickly! She sure loved it. What a fun day, and we are so glad Grandma and Grandpa could spend it with us!

Fabulous FALL!!!

2009-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful time of year! The leaves are just beautiful right now, I love the fall. We went to a pumpkin patch here in town last week. Rebecca loved wearing her cat shirt and looking at all the pumpkin pies, as she calls them.
They had this cute little train there.

And a maze.

The leaves on our street are stunning! I love it when I turn up our street and just look all the way up at all the colors. Rebecca loves to ride her little bus across the street over to the fire hydrant. She's very interested in the fire hydrant for some reason. She feels like such a big girl getting off the driveway to ride her bus, going somewhere farther away.

She loves to crunch and stomp on the leaves. Then she'll pick a few up, along with some sticks and rocks, throw them in the seat of the bus, hop on and ride off again. It's so funny, the things she wants to save. That bus is so full of junk. :)

And, she's off!

We went on a hike last week, it was a beautiful view from the top. Rebecca loves to throw rocks in water.

Our front yard is FULL of leaves. SO FUN!!!

Seth's raking leaves up into the air. Rebecca is not sure what to think!

My handsome scout! Seth gave a talk at our nephew's Eagle court of honor.

I get together with my college roommates from Utah State every year. We had such a good time this past weekend. We talked and laughed all night long. I have such great friends. It was so good to see all of you!!! Too bad we don't live closer and see each other more often.

FINISHED!

2009-10-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is! Our finished bathroom. It is so nice, and it is wonderful to finally have a non-embarassing bathroom (it was terrible before) !!! So after 4 years this month of living in this house, our entire upstairs is completely remodeled. It's so nice to have it all done. I know in a few months Seth will get the remodeling itch again and it will be on to the basement.
Rebecca's enjoying bubble baths like a normal kid. No more quick showers for her!

We're enjoying any sunny days we can get!

We went to the fire station open house last night, Rebecca loves fire trucks!

We watched a puppet show about "Stop, Drop and Roll" and then she practiced it and got a prize.

My wonderful sister-in-law Whitney and my niece Olivia helping me with my massive project...the quilt. I think I will actually reach my goal of having it done by Christmas! It's looking great and I can't wait to see it finished. It's been fun to work on and learn how to sew.

Rebecca has some great conversations with the cows. My favorite was, "I eat you!"

Rhino ride with Grandpa and Brent!

I've started doing "school" with Rebecca most days and it's been so fun. Here we are learning about clouds.

We had a Princess party at our house a few weeks ago and the girls had so much fun eating yummy treats...

RUNNING and DANCING....

And making Princess crowns! What cute girls!!!

AND-it was my favorite day a few weeks ago...Shelley Potato Day!! I lovk forward to the celebration of the spud every year. Here I am eating my lovely free potato and chocolate milk with Rebecca. YUM!

Rebecca loves fire trucks, but they were a little loud, so she sat there like this.

Of course she had to dance whenever there was music

I'll bet these missionaries will never forget being in this parade!

The theme was "Potatoes on Masqerade" What a crack up! I loved it! Hooray for Idaho and the lovely Potato!

The cutest little sailor!

2009-09-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had dress-up day with Rebecca. It was so fun! I painted her fingernails and toenails and curled her hair. During all of that I told her that we would go see the ducks at the river and that I was going to take pictures of her in a special dress. She loves to wear dresses. And this one is special because my mom made it for me when I was Rebecca's age. I've wanted to take pictures of her in it for a while, but I've been waiting for her poor nose to heal a little.

I was so glad she was in a good mood! Usually when I get the camera out, she runs away or throws a fit. It is so hard to get good pictures lately! This time, she still ran and danced like crazy but in the 84 pictures I snapped, I managed to get a few good ones! Most of them were of the back of her head as she ran away from me, chasing ducks and singing. Anyway, here's the good ones-Enjoy!

After the river, I asked Rebecca if she'd like to go to the temple and look at the flowers and let me take some more pictures. She said, "Yeah!" So off we went. The flowers were so beautiful and it was so nice to be there with my little girl. She was so cute running from flower to flower, trying to smell them all.

She did slow down long enough to touch these letters and say, "L-A-T-T-E-R" and then she was off again. We sat on the grass and looked at the temple. Rebecca pointed to the top and said, "Jesus!" I told her that it is the Angel Moroni on top of the temple but she just shook her head and said, "No, Mommy! Jesus!"

I love my little dolly and am so proud of her. I'm so grateful for the gospel and our Heavenly Father's Plan. I love my little family so very much. I'm so blessed to live 2 minutes from a temple. I was able to go to the temple this week and I love the peace I feel there. I know all my problems are so small when you look at the big picture and what really matters. The temple helps me to see and remember that.

What a blessing it is to be a mother! I wrote the Primary Program last month that the kids will present in a few weeks, and it has been so neat this year in Primary to teach and learn about eternal families. How wonderful it is to know my family is eternal. I hope and pray that I can be the example and teacher that my children need to guide them back to where they came from. I hope Rebecca will always live worthy of the beautiful blessings of the temple. We sing, "I love to see the Temple" every night, and she knows all the words. What a sweet girl she is, I love to teach her the gospel.

We harvested our little garden last week and Rebecca helped me pop the leaves off all these carrots. She took a bite out of each one too. We're getting a few RED tomatoes, most of them are green still. I love havin a garden, and filling up my freezer with all these yummy veggies!

The bathroom is coming along, slowly but surely!!!

Daddy's little helper. Hopefully we'll be painting this weekend!!YIPPEE!!!

Stitches

2009-09-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Rebecca had her first bad accident last week. She fell out of her stroller at WalMart and got this cut. 6 stitches later, she is ok. She tells me so all the time. "I'm ok, Mommy. My nose is ok." I was not sure for a while though! It is soooo scary to have your child bleed and scream like that. I think I cried as much as she did. So I've learned my lesson and she will ALWAYS be strapped in from now on. I just feel so bad every time I look at this cut on her sweet little face. She gets the stitches out tomorrow and I'm a little nervous for how that will go. She had to be put to sleep to get them in and I'm thinking I'll be holding her down to get them out. Wish me luck!
On to happier topics...our bathroom is coming along! HOORAY!!! Maybe this week I'll be able to shower, I'm really tired of baths.

A friend invited us up to her cabin in Island Park and we had such a great time there.

We went on this paddle boat and on a beautiful hike. So nice to just be outside enjoying nature. We haven't done that enough this year.

Rebecca's little friend is back 3 days a week, and Rebecca is in heaven. EVERY night, she asks if Calista is coming tomorrow. It's part of the bedtime ritual.

They have a great time together and I'm glad that Seth finished "The Back Yard" last month. It's nice to have a place that is small and fenced for the kids to be. The sandbox is a hit with Rebecca. We played in it for almost 2 hours yesterday. Nice!

And I can't wait for next year when these garden boxes will be overflowing with veggies and flowers. It will be so pretty! It's so nice to have a husband who knows how to build and fix stuff. Our house and yard are looking better all the time!

We went to help with the wheat harvest last weekend. Rebecca liked riding on the combine for about 2 minutes and then...

She was out! Seth says he used to sleep in the combine all the time too when he was little.

I bought 70 ears of corn and husked and froze it all. YUM!! But now I'm thinking I need a bigger freezer...

And I was feeling ambitious a few months ago and bought this quilt pattern that I thought was so cute. I don't sew, but I thought I'd make it anyway. Good thing Seth has such a great mom and sisters who have helped me with this project. I got it cut out in July with one sister, and then Seth's mom gave me a quick sewing lesson and I got started sewing it last weekend. I'm so proud of myself and it is so fun! I can't wait to do some more! My goal is to have it done for Rebecca for Christmas. It is so cute, I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Summer fun

2009-08-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

We have had such a busy and fun month! Here is the table Rebecca's grandparents gave her for her birthday. She's having a tea party with Elmo and Baby Kate. She LOVES her little table, it is so perfect!

Having a pillow fight with Daddy. Daddy won...Rebecca just sat there and laughed while he threw pillows on her over and over again. It was funny.

Here we are at the Youth Jam. Rebecca was so fun this year, doing all the little art projects.

They had some Mexican singers/dancers and Rebecca ran right up in front of the stage and danced around with these little girls. Rebecca just can't help herself - whenever she hears music, she has got to dance! It's too cute.

Daddy finished Rebecca's sandbox. Here is her first look.

She LOVES it!!! What a fun addition to our back yard.

We went to Utah and surprised my parents. It was fun to show up without them knowing. We had a good few days together. Here we are at the water fountain at the Gateway Mall.

Rebecca loves her Grandpa-when he had to leave to go ride the train at work, Rebecca said she wanted to go with him and sit on his lap. Here she is giving him lots of kisses!

With Grandma and Grandpa.

What cute Grandparents! They did all the things with Rebecca that she loves...went to the park, 2 pet stores, and out for ice cream. She was in heaven. It's so fun to visit Grandma and Grandpa!

After visiting my parents, we went and stayed with my friend Kathy who is living with her parents in Bear Lake until she moves to Oregon next week. What an awesome place her parents have!!! Check out this view from their house. It was beautiful.

Rebecca and her friend Elli. They were so happy to be together again. Such cute girls.

Goodbye Kathy and Elli! We'll miss you!

When we got home, Seth had a surprise for us! He started the BIG project . . . . THE BATHROOM!!! HALLELUJAH!!!! I've hated our bathroom since the day I first saw it. Our tub was a cast iron nasty thing that was one of a kind but not in a good way. Oh I hated it. IT IS GONE! And we have a normal tub now! I spent hours dusting and cleaning all the lathe and plaster dust, yuck. But we are on our way to finally having a normal bathroom, and then the entire upstairs will be DONE. Finally! So we are excited, however, having a bathroom under construction and potty training is not a good combination, just in case anyone was wondering :)

Rebecca, Rebecca, and more Rebecca

2009-08-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

July was such a fun month...get ready for picture overload! Here is the sweet new cherry dress from Grandma W. Thanks! It's so cute on her. I bribed her to actually look at the camera with these strawberries...they are her favorite :)

Rebecca has LOVED her little pool. She plays in it most afternoons.

I started potty training a week ago, using the 3 day potty training book (Thanks, Darla!) I know she gets what she is supposed to do, it's just deciding whether or not to do it! She makes it about half the time and we are pretty proud of her! She'll get it down completely...soon I hope! She is such a big girl, and so proud of herself in her Elmo underwear. It's so cute. But without a diaper, all her clothes seem so big on her now. She's such a little girl.

See her Elmo stickers on her potty chart-she loves them!

Washing hands is her favorite part.

I gave her a Cinderella sticker book as a reward and she put the stickers all over herself, arms and legs included. Then she put some on her doll. I am still picking up stickers all over the house. Funny girl.

Seth took the past week off work, since he hasn't had a day off (including Saturdays) all year. He cleaned up both sides of our yard, which were both horrible-overgrown trees, and all kinds of other junk. He built Rebecca a sandbox and some garden boxes for us and a window well. It all looks so good. Oh, and all the endless shoveling of rocks. It's almost done, we love a good project and it's been a while since we've been able to do anything.

Rebecca was Daddy's little helper

Here is the John Deere dress that Aunt Kerstin made for Rebecca's birthday. SOOOO CUTE! WE LOVE IT!!

We went to Ross Park in Pocatello to swim and had such a great time! Who knew I had such a water baby....last year, she screamed in the water so I was a little nervous to go, but this year she loved it and I am so glad! She even went down this slide a few times.

Calista and Rebecca-so cute together!

Rebecca got this wagon for her birthday and she loads it up every day with her favorite things of the day and pulls it around the house all day long. She loves it. When I can't find something, sometimes MY stuff, I just look in her wagon.

The Elmo backpack. She wears this most days, and it is a crack up. We think it is so cute on her.

When I bring out the camera, this is what Rebecca does. Great, huh?

Or, she comes up to me and says, "Mommy, I hug you!" Which is her way of getting me to stop whatever I'm doing and pick her up. How can I resist?!?!?

Family Reunions

2009-08-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, July was the month of family reunions!! Here we are in Utah on the 4th of July for my Family reunion. Rebecca was in no mood for pictures, as usual, so here are the best ones. It was so fun to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents who I don't see very often. We had a great time together!
Then over the week of the 24th, we went to Bancroft for Seth's family reunion. What a great time we had! We camp at the farm, and it's so nice to have such a beautiful place to be, plus I won't lie...I liked having nice bathrooms and a kitchen to use. This is the way to camp! We went to Bear Lake one day, it was a perfect day and we had the best time there.

Rebecca located her cousin's princess chair and quickly claimed it as hers.

The water was warm...ish and so shallow. Just perfect for the kids to play in. Here we all are.

Grandma gave out such fun prizes every day at the Ol' Fishin' Hole.

Rebecca pushing Elmo on the swing.

We had such fun every night...here we watched Nim's Island outside, and the next night we had our own fireworks show...it was AWESOME

And of course, the 24th of July! Bancroft seems a little bigger on this day, because of all the people that come. We went to the breakfast and the parade, and played games at the farm that afternoon. It was so fun to be together, we love our families!!!

SHE'S 2!!!!!

2009-07-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, our little dolly girl turned two yesterday. We had a fun party with Seth's family last night.She was spoiled with so many nice gifts...lots of Elmo stuff, which she loves.
We had a little scare about an hour before the party with a rain storm, but it turned out to be a beautiful evening...thank goodness! I did not want it to be inside!

Rebecca and Grandma Wistisen

THE ELMO CAKE!!! I'm pretty proud of myself, it turned out so cute! Rebecca ran around the house all day saying, "Elmo cake! Elmo cake!" She was so excited about it, which made me even more happy that I went to all this work! It was fun to do though.

Blowing out her candles...all by herself!

Mmmmm, Elmo cake.

Her new Lego wagon-FUN!

COUSINS ARE THE BEST!!!

Playing with her new "Dress-up Elmo."

TUTU from Mommy

Bubbles with Chiz

We also celebrated last week with my family in Utah. Grandma gave Rebecca this new tent, she calls it her "little house" So fun!

Blowing out the candles with Grandma...their birthdays are just a few days apart.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA! She is such a sweetie, we are so blessed to have her in our lives.

THE ZOO!

2009-06-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo while my mom was here visiting a few weeks ago. Rebecca was soooo excited to be there and ran everywhere talking to all the animals. It was a great day and even waited to rain until we were leaving the zoo. (It has rained here most days this month)
Looking at Grandma's favorites...the peacocks!

Rebecca was so excited to see the monkeys.

And some other pics from the past month...finally warm enough to wear summer clothes in this one!

Rebecca had a fun sleepover with her cousins last weekend. Here they are feeding the ducks.

Emilee is the handstand pro. She is teaching Rebecca how it's done.

Watching a movie. They finally all fell asleep at 11:30! Probably my fault for feeding them full of sweets. I just can't help spoiling my darling nieces though! It's been a fun summer so far.

We went and flew Rebecca's Elmo kite. It was so fun and worked so well! It was a perfect day for kite flying and Rebecca loved watching Elmo fly around.

Doing it herself! She's getting so independent.

Fun in MAY!

2009-06-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

While I am getting ready in the mornings, I usually put Rebecca in this little dance outfit and she runs around the house dancing and singing. She is adorable! And I LOVE IT when she entertains herself...very rare these days :)

We planted our garden and some flowers in the front. Rebecca was a big help! If you call playing in the dirt helpful. Here she is digging with her little shovel.

Trying on mom's gloves.

And here is Rebecca drinking - I mean helping me water the flowers!

Here she is looking for mail in her little mailbox.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Heidi sent her some love letters! She was so happy!!! Thank you!

Hooray for Vacation!

2009-06-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

The last vacation we went on (excluding to visit family) was 3 years ago, so it was time!!! Seth hasn't had a Saturday off all year, so it was so nice to finally spend a real weekend together and go somewhere we've never been. We went to Hagerman, over by Twin Falls. It was actually a really cool place! We had a great time and saw some really beautiful scenery. Here we are on a hike with signs about Idaho fossils.At the Hagerman Fossil Museum...the Hagerman Horse. (Idaho State Fossil)
Malad Gorge...the picture does not do it justice. It was a looonnnggg way down! Kind of scary!

Random alligator farm out in the middle of nowhere. Kind of funny, alligators in Idaho. We think they were asleep or fake, they never moved and didn't appear to even breathe.

Rebecca was so good, we were in the car so much. She was especially good whenever she found the bag of Doritos.

There were a lot of trout hatcheries in this area. Most of them had no fish in them though. I guess it's the wrong time of year to see the hatcheries. Oh well. We did see a lot of sturgeons at one hatchery though. They are huge! Rebecca loved looking at them

We went to Balanced Rock, which was awesome, and hiked up to it and all around it. It was really fun!

You can kind of see my head...I'm out there on one of the huge rocks.

A nice cave to relax in for a minute!

Niagara Springs. So Beautiful!!

Spring Flowers

2009-05-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

Here is Rebecca's other Easter dress from her Grandma W. She sure got some beautiful dresses this year from her sweet Grandmas. She was so darling in this dress and we took her to the temple to get some spring pictures after church. I just love daffodils and tulips, such happy flowers. So here are some more pics for you to show off, Grandma. Thanks for the dress!

Outside!

2009-05-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

Just look at this happy face! Rebecca could swing all day. And while she swings, she makes me smile as she says, "Wheeee!...... Swing!......... Fun!"Seth built this swingset last week for Rebecca. I can tell we are going to have tons of fun this summer in our back yard! She begs to go out and swing all day long. It's been fun.

And here is Rebecca's new favorite toy...A talking ELMO. Her sweet auntie bought it for her, and Rebecca gives him hugs and kisses all day, and holds him while I do her hair.

And here is another thing to make our back yard more fun...a little house! From her other sweet aunt! She loves to play in here and she always checks for mail in the mailbox and gets so excited when she sees a letter in there. It's funny.

We've been going on lots of walks, and Rebecca babbles away, telling me everything she sees. It's so nice to be able to spend time outside again. Happy Spring, everyone!!!

Easter!

2009-04-19T13:15:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of Rebecca in her Easter dress...thanks Mom!!! It is so cute on her!
Rebecca and her cute cousins on Easter Sunday. We were at Seth's parents house out in the country, and during the egg hunt, a wild rabbit hopped across the yard! It was awesome, we told the kids it was the Easter bunny.

These little cousins just love to help feed Rebecca. They are great friends.

Girly Girl

2009-04-16T12:25:00.001-07:00

Seth finally had a night off for the first time in I don't know how long. So he took Rebecca to Wal-Mart and bought her some clip on earrings. Oh boy. This girl LOVES jewelry, and the earrings are a hit. She is so funny, walking around saying "earrings....pretty"

The GRAND Canyon!

2009-04-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Rebecca and I just returned from an awesome trip with my parents to the Grand Canyon. I took tons of pictures for all my good friends who have never been there, so here are a few! Rebecca in her ranger hat that her Papa bought for her.

Rebecca loved to pull on my poor dad's ears every time she was in the backpack. It was actually kind of funny (to my mom and I)

Here we are at Slide Rock National Park. It was a really cool place, it is a natural waterslide, pretty shallow and people just slide through the water over the rocks. The rocks are red and really smooth. It looked like lots of fun!

So many cool red rock formations everywhere we went. I think Arizona is a really beautiful state.

We went to a town called Sedona one day, and it is such a scenic place. I wish I would have gotten some better pictures of it. Rebecca was just so cute this day I had to snap some pictures while she was checking out the menu. While we were in this town, a lady stopped to tell Rebecca that she is the prettiest thing she'd seen all day! What a compliment, considering the beautiful scenery there. Rebecca is a darling baby and she was sooooo good on this trip. We did so much driving around, and I was so proud of her. She did much better than I thought she would.

Beautiful Sedona

My Dad and I at some volcanic mountains

The Waputki National Monument! This place was really cool, it is the ruins of some Indian tribe out in the middle of nowhere. Crazy to think people actually lived here.

The weather was so nice the whole trip too. It was so nice to have jacket weather and be away from frozen Idaho for a week!

Our bathtub at home is....let's just say it's not normal. So Rebecca gets showers at home and baths are a treat when she visits Grandparents. So on this vacation she took plenty of baths and on this night I let her go "swimming" in the spa. She loves to splash around, and she was so happy in there. We just watched her for so long, which probably sounds silly, but she has had so few baths in her life that it's like a new experience for her, so it is really cute. Isn't that sad! We need a new tub for sure. Someday!

Here is the house we stayed in, it was awesome! This is the way to vacation! It was so nice to have a nice place to sleep and play games and watch movies and cook. Just perfect.

On the way home we stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam by Lake Powell. It was pretty cool!

Thanks for the fun trip mom and dad! We had a great time. Seth had finals that week, so we missed him. It is good to be back home, even though it is snowing today, grrrr.

Fun in March

2009-03-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well, March is almost over! What a fun month it has been. We had a fun St. Patrick's Day...here is Seth the Leprechaun, and Rebecca in her festive shirt.Here are my lovely glasses I wear every year. Rebecca's not too sure what to think. She'll be begging to wear them next year, I'm sure. :)
I invited some friends over and the little girls played while we made a GREEN lunch! It was great-green pancakes, green eggs, green grapes, and cookies and brownies with green frosting.

The girls loved it...kind of!

But they did have fun playing together.

And, here are some other things that we did this month. Rebecca needed to blow her nose, I guess. When I came into the room, here is what I found!

My little sweetheart. Rebecca is 20 months old and getting smarter all the time. She is talking so well. She sings along with me when I sing to her. She can count to 10 by herself. She is learning her colors and right now, everything is black or yellow when I ask her. She is so fun and I love to be with her every day.

Rebecca and I went to Utah to visit my parents and had a great time. We were able to go to the Draper Temple open house, which I loved. What a beautiful temple. I feel so blessed to have been able to be there and feel the spirit of that special place.

The days are finally getting warmer and we've been able to play outside more. Rebecca loves her bus and bike and the slides and swings. One day we played outside with friends for almost 4 hours, and it was sooooo nice! I can't wait to do that more.

If I would let her, this is how Rebecca would be dressed every day...no pants and wearing her fancy white Sunday shoes. She wore these shoes to the grocery store a few days ago. Funny girl, already has an opinion on what she wants to wear. It cracks me up.

TIP TOES! Rebecca LOVES music and I have gotten used to this loud piano being on all day and my little girl dancing around to the music. It's funny when people come over and ask if we can turn it down...I don't even notice that it's loud and obnoxious anymore!

Some more pics for our family...

2009-03-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

Whoa, closeup! Rebecca is getting to be a good little helper! She takes her dirty clothes to the laundry basket every night.
She even SLEEPS with her hands in her pockets!

Her hair is finally long enough for two french braids and I love it! If only it would last (sigh)

Spaghetti face!

Elmo is on every morning at 10:40 and Rebecca doesn't let me forget it!

Spoiled baby!

2009-02-27T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well, February is finally OVER!! I'm so glad. February really drags on for me every year. We've kept busy though, and had some fun visits from Rebecca's aunts. My sister Heidi came up on Valentine's day and stayed with Rebecca while we went out to dinner, which was so nice! I loved not feeling rushed and only having to feed myself and not cleaning up a mess afterwards. Thanks Heidi! I gave Rebecca these sunglasses for Valentines day and she loves to wear them. Here is the rabbit Heidi brought Rebecca for V. day. She carries it all over the house saying, "hop, hop!"
Then last weekend, Seth's sister Kerstin came up and she bought Rebecca her first pets...five goldfish! Rebecca was sooooo excited, and even still she asks to see them all day and constantly reminds me to feed them. Maybe we fed them too much because now, a week later, we are down to only one fish. So sad.

Every night before going to sleep, she has to kiss her fish goodnight. It's a new stalling technique she has come up with lately. She always asks for a book, a song, a kiss, a drink, some chapstick, and now to kiss the fish.

We went to a fun Valentine's party at the church. Here is Rebecca and all her loot! I loved filling out the Valentines! It made me feel like a little kid again. Holidays are so much better with kids around. It really is a second childhood for me, having Rebecca, and experiencing all these fun things again, and I love it!

Here's my little Valentine decorating cookies and Valentine bags. I love you, Rebecca!

Flower Power

2009-02-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

I bought these gerber daisies at the craft store a year or so ago, and I've been saving them to put in a vase in Rebecca's room someday when we finished it. Well, the room is finished and I am now seeing that there is no room for a vase of huge daisies, and Rebecca would probably break the vase anyway. So I was sad this little decoration that I had originally thought would be so cute was not going to happen after all. I love gerber daisies, we had them at our wedding. They are so bright and colorful and cheerful to me.

Well! Rebecca and her cute little friend found the flowers and found a use for them. They turn on our keyboard which plays obnoxiously loud music (100 songs) and DANCE, waving the flowers around and laughing. This entertains them for quite a while actually and it is so funny to watch. They like them so much that I made a non-breakable vase by duct-taping 2 big food storage cans together and painting it. The flowers sit in there and are decorative AND they are useful too! The girls LOVE to play with them, it's so cute.
Those flowers are making me happy with their many uses and reminding me of spring...can't wait!!!

Winter

2009-02-10T12:40:00.000-08:00

Well, it's snowing again today so I thought I'd blog about it for a while. Here is Rebecca watching Seth shovel. She loved walking in the paths he would make. Then Seth took her sledding in our back yard. She fits perfectly in our little sled. Too bad she hated it. Next year will be better, I hope!
Rebecca saying...LET ME OUT OF HERE!!!

If anyone would like to buy this house, it would make our day. No, it would make our lives!!! Seriously, if you know anyone looking for a house in the $238,000 range...let me know. It's a beautiful home, on one acre in Rigby. 4000 square feet, granite, 3 car garage, half finished basement, built by my husband...it's a really nice house.

Hooray!! One month of school down for Seth! I am so grateful for him and all he does to support our little family-school full time and work full time. I feel like a single parent, except on Sundays, but that is just how it is for a while. I'm so blessed to be able to stay home with our little girl and take care of her and our home. I love it!
So, we never see Seth- literally- but on this one day a few weeks ago, he came home and said he had a surprise for me. He took Rebecca into her room and after a while he called to me and I came in. They were both dressed in black, and he had a plate of black jelly beans, chocolate covered raisins, and black licorice, and chocolate milk to drink. He said,"Happy Martin Luther King Day!! We are going to celebrate the blacks." I laughed so hard. We ate all our black stuff and then he went downstairs to do homework, and I continued laughing all night. Funny Seth. I'm always telling him we need to celebrate holidays and have more traditions. I guess he listened to me. I'm glad he took a minute to make me laugh.

One month closer to SPRING!!!

2009-02-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

I'm so tired of winter! I know we need the snow, but I feel so cooped up at times. So, I've been trying new hairstyles on Rebecca, and I've decided Sesame Street was sent from heaven. WOW. She sits so still while I experiment and play with her hair. The only problem is that I have to do her hair at least 4 times a day. She rips it all out and the worst part is that she puts these tiny rubber bands around her wrists after ripping them out of her hair. She does this as she is falling asleep, and a few days ago she woke up during her nap screaming and I went in there to find 2 of her fingers bright red with a rubber band wrapped tightly around them. OUCH! It's a dilemma though...do I not do her hair, or keep doing it? I kind of have to though, because it all grows straight forward, so if I leave it, it's all in her eyes. Hopefully she'll just grow out of this stage of ripping out the hairdos, and SOON! Because it's so cute when it's all done! I love my little girlie!! Ok, In this picture, if you can't tell ;) the front two pieces are in the shape of hearts. Since it is February! I tried to get a front view, but once again, no cooperation for picture time. Sigh.I hope these next few pictures will bring smiles to the ones we love. We are thinking of you and miss you!
REBECCA AT 18 MONTHS...

This just made me laugh...I guess she got tired of trying to get her clothes off during nap time (this was after she ripped her hair apart of course) so she gave up and went to sleep.

Rebecca is all ready to go to Nursery for the first time! She's so grown up, not our little baby anymore. She loves Nursery, and the leaders say that she talks the most out of all the kids in there. She does have lots to say, and we are glad other people can understand her too.

Here are some sweet pictures from a few weeks ago. Rebecca was rocking all her babies. And telling them every letter she knows. It was cracking me up.

She still loves this shirt, and walks around with her hands in the pockets, saying "pockets, pockets."

Holidays

2009-01-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful! We got to spend time with both of our fabulous families, and I think that was the best part of the month of December for us. Here we are at the Wistisen family party, which was so fun. The entire family was there, and we had good food and played games and told the Christmas story and the kids had a pinata. Grandma gave us ornaments and a new Christmas book. We look forward to this fun party each year.Here is Rebecca eating her first Abelskiever (puffy round pancakes with apples inside). She devoured it and Grandma declared her a "true Danish baby!"
Here is Rebecca's new pink rocking chair that is just her size. She loves to drag it out to the living room if we are in there, or out into the hallway last week to wait for Daddy when he was in the bathroom cutting his hair. She loves having a chair just her size and I walk by her room sometimes and she is in her chair reading books and babbling. So cute!

My wonderful parents came up for a visit a few days before Christmas and we had such a good time together. They came at a perfect time, it was snowing a lot and Seth was gone plowing all the time, night and day, and I would have been so lonely! They helped me with so many things and my mom and I got some good scrapbooking time in! My dad set up my Christmas tree for me on the 23rd, and I am so glad he did. It really doesn't feel quite like Christmas until you have the tree up. I'll never not put it up again! Rebecca actually did pretty good with it...I was worried I'd spend the whole month keeping her away from it. Thanks for the fun visit, mom and dad!

Seth built this bookshelf for all of Rebecca's books. It is a cute little shelf, I thought that was a sweet Christmas gift from him. Rebecca loves to read sooooo much!

I find her like this a lot.

We went to the mall to see Santa Claus for her first time. I prepared her by showing her Santa in books for a few days. She could say Santa, and when we went, she was so cute, and said "Santa" over and over. She was happy to see him, I knew she would be. She is such a friendly baby, not afraid of anyone. I am so glad she is that way!

We sure did have a white Christmas! Lots of snow in December. The first time it snowed, Rebecca was in awe. It was adorable, she pointed out the window and said,"What's that, mama?" I'll never forget that sweet little voice saying that to me. She loves to stand at the window and watch the snow fall.

I got all crafty in December, and made these (and many other) cute hair clips for my nieces for Christmas. They were fun to do! I can't wait until Rebecca's hair is a bit longer and thicker and I can make some for her.

And I got together with a friend and made these cute Nativity blocks for Rebecca. What a fun project this was! I really want a Cricuit!!!! Someday.....

Rebecca and all her loot on Christmas day!!! She sure was spoiled!! Thank you to all of her sweet grandparents and her fabulous Aunt Jenni!

Pretty baby in all the wrapping paper.

Doing Karaoke with her cousin Emilee. Emilee is quite the little rock star!

Seth and Rebecca on a typical Sunday. Daddy's little girl, they are such good friends.

I put Rebecca's hair in curlers and..WOW, it worked! POOF!!

Then, I put her in her Beautiful new Christmas dress and tried so hard to get just ONE good picture. No cooperation from Rebecca though. By the end, she was crying and I wanted to. I wanted to give her grandparents some cute pictures for Christmas. But no such luck. So take my word for it, she was adorable in that dress!!!

And last but not least...THANKSGIVING!!! I'm really catching up here! We went to my Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house in Utah, and it was so much fun to be there and see a lot of my aunts and uncles and cousins who we don't see very often. My parents took us to this awesome aquarium while we were down there too. I loved it!

Rebecca was a bit hungry....not in the mood for a picture, can't imagine why!

And this was so funny, we were looking through the black Friday ads, and Rebecca was licking her fingers and turning the pages. She was cracking us all up, especially her great grandma!

Our Christmas Miracle

2009-01-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

SHE WALKS!!!!!!!!!! Many of you know, we have been waiting for this day for soooooo long!! Ever since September when she started standing up all by herself, we thought, "any day now she'll be walking." BUT NO!! She would stand, but she would NOT walk. I guess she was just mastering balance before she decided to take off. Anyway, it all happened on Christmas Eve. She waited for her Daddy to get home from work so he could see her first steps too. She walked from one side of our living room to the other, right into my arms. About 12 feet and she never fell. We are two proud parents!! She is 17 1/2 months old. What a great Christmas present she gave us. The look on her face was priceless. We could tell she knew she was doing something great. And now it's been a week, and she NEVER falls. She is such a good little walker. And in other Rebecca news....I am a big fan of this website, starfall.com Anyone with little kids should know about it. It goes through the alphabet and teaches kids the sounds each letter makes, sings songs, etc. Really cute. I've been doing it with Rebecca for months, every day. She could look at this website all day. I can't believe how still and attentive she is. And she throws a fit when I say it's time to be done and do something else. She repeats the sounds the letters make and has many things memorized like what picture comes next. We are constantly amazed at how much she knows and remembers. Today she pointed to the letter B and said "B." Then again at the letter R, and O and X. It's so fun to watch my baby learn things, she is SO SMART!!
Today while I was making lunch, Rebecca unloaded all her diaper wipes one by one and put them on my rocking chair. Oh boy. So when I found that little mess, I picked her up, set her on my lap, and said, "Rebecca, what is this mess?" She looked at me so solemn and said, "wipes." I just had to hug her and laugh. I didn't expect her to answer me...I didn't know she knew that word!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

WOW, December was a busy month, and I can't believe it is already over and we have started a new year. Happy 2009 to everyone!!! Dec. was a fun month, I will put some Christmas pictures on here soon, so our parents can see...this was the first year since we've been married that we didn't spend Christmas day in Utah with my family. We missed you, Mom and Dad!!

New year's eve was fun, I took Rebecca outside to play in the snow. She was so cute in her little snowsuit and hat and gloves and boots. She was excited to go outside, we haven't really gone anywhere in a while-we've been sick and it's so cold. Anyway, we got out there and little Rebecca could just stand on top of the snow. Needless to say, it was not the best day to play in the snow. I'll have to try it again another day and not wait so long after it snows!

She loved the boots (which are a few sizes too big for her, she doesn't care!) and had to wear them all night. Funny baby! We decorated to surprise Daddy when he came home from work. We blew on our noisemakers and threw confetti. It was a fun night!

Then on New year's day, Seth's parents came up to spend the day with us. We had a great time! Seth's mom made these curtains for Rebecca's room. They are the perfect finishing touch, and I love them! She quilted around all the flowers and it is so cute. Seth and his dad put up the blinds on two of our windows, and everything looks so good. I just love to go in there and look at her room, it's so nice to have it completely finished!

I'm excited for this new year, to set new goals and try a little harder. Seth starts school on Jan. 7, and we are excited/nervous to see how life will be for the next while.

Thankful

2008-11-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write down the top 10 things I am thankful for this year. I have been so blessed over the past year, and it's hard to narrow it down to what I am most thankful for. But, here we go:

1-The two people in the picture above. There is no one I'd rather spend time with than Seth and Rebecca. I'm so grateful for my fun-loving, hard working husband and our beautiful daughter. Seth makes it possible for me to be a stay at home mother/homemaker, which I feel is a full-time (and then some) job! I love it though, I feel like I am living a dream right now. I love taking care of my home and family.

2-Rebecca is my angel. It's hard to explain, but she makes me want to be a better person, more than anyone else in my life ever has. And when I'm in a difficult or new situation, she gives me confidence just because she is there with me. I don't know how I ever survived without her!

3-Where would I be without the gospel of Jesus Christ? I don't want to think about that! I love my Savior and will be forever grateful that I was raised in His true church, I never had to search for it. I feel that I have always had a testimony, it just grows all the time. The gospel gives me peace in my life, direction and purpose, and happiness that lasts.

4-The most recent house Seth built is still not sold, but an investor has taken over payments and found renters for us since June, and it is such a relief and amazing blessing that we ran into this investor and have the peace of having that bill taken care of each month. Let's hope he can sell it next year! It will be nice to move on from that.

5-We have been healthy this year, no major sicknesses or accidents. I am grateful for our strong bodies and minds, and for the opportunity to learn and grow in this life.

6-We had our first successful garden this summer, and it was so fun! I never knew how fulfilling it is to grow things, and to see the "fruits of our labors" in this way. I loved going out there to grab something to use in the dinner I was making. I am so grateful for good food!

7-With the economy getting worse all the time, I am so, so grateful that Seth has a good job. We know many people who have been affected by layoffs, or lack of business, and who are hurting financially. We've had our struggles with this too, but we have always been ok and had all the things we need. I'm learning to be happy with less and to make things last longer and I think that is a good thing.

8-I am grateful for good friends. I don't have any family close by, and it's nice to know I have people here who are like family, who would do anything for me.

9-It has been amazing to me this year, how my Heavenly Father knows exactly what I need and He sends people into my life to help me. When I'm sad, a friend calls and lifts me up. When I need something, people are inspired to share with me. It's been a lesson to me this year, to receive with a heart full of gratitude. It's easy to be on the giving end, and it has been humbling to receive so many nice things from so many unexpected places. That's how I know God is aware of my little family and our needs. I'm grateful for people who listen to the spirit and are willing to give. It has taught me to look for opportunities to serve and to pay attention to who might need me each day.

10-I'm grateful for my home, to live in a wonderful city, for this beautiful Earth, and for my life in general. My life is so good. I'm grateful for a loving and forgiving Heavenly Father, for each new day, the opportunity to start fresh and be a little better.

Your new Avon Lady!

2008-11-21T12:29:00.000-08:00

That's right...I started selling Avon a week ago! And I am so excited to say that it is going really well so far! I've had a great response, and just wanted to let everyone know that I've started this new business and if you'd like a catalog to look through, I'd be happy to drop one by your house.
I've been thinking for months about starting some kind of business, but nothing felt completely right. I want to do something to help my little family out financially while Seth is in school the next few years. I don't claim to be a beauty expert, but I like Avon because it is affordable for people, and a lot of the stuff they sell are things people buy all the time in WalMart, like makeup, deodorant, jewelry, gifts, etc. FYI: They have lots of fun stuff for holiday gifts right now!!! And I can save people time and money and a trip to the store, since I deliver their orders to them. So it's a good deal for me and for my customers. I love it that I can bring Rebecca with me, also. It would break my heart to leave her and go work somewhere.
So wish me luck as I start this new little business! If you know anyone who likes Avon, I'd be really happy to get some referrals. And I'd be happy to be YOUR Avon lady too! Those of you who have bought from me, I really appreciate your business and support.

Fall Pictures

2008-11-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally finished Rebecca's room!! I love it, and I'm so happy to have a place for all of her STUFF!! Whew! I feel like we have at least doubled the amount of stuff we own since having Rebecca. But now we have a place to put it all! And it looks so good.

This is my carousel from when I was 9 or 10. I was so excited the year I got it for Christmas, and then I got to spend the next few years collecting the horses/animals to put in it. It turns and plays the song from "Carousel" and the horses go up and down. It was fun for me to get it out of its box downstairs and clean off all the dust (that took a while!) and put it together for my little girl. When I gave it to her, she was so happy. It was really cute.
Rebecca's favorite hangout lately....AAARRGGHHH!!!! And why does she always go for the knives?!?!? These next few pics are from our weekend at the Bancroft Farmhouse a few weeks ago. I found Rebecca upstairs babbling away to all these dolls.

I took Rebecca for a ride on the RHINO!! So Fun!! Can you tell she LOVES IT?

And of course the swings. I had to pry her little fingers away when it was time to go in. She thought it was the end of the world!

My mom used to take pictures of us kids every fall. I will carry on this lovely tradition...fall is such a beautiful time of year! Rebecca loves to crunch around in the leaves. Here are my favorite shots I got of her.

We walk at the park and lately Rebecca has to push the stroller. Which is good...maybe it will help her finally learn how to walk. Maybe. Anyway she pushes it along, smiling and waving at everyone who passes us, and looking so proud of herself the rest of the time. She is so funny. And then she throws a little fit if I try to make her ride in the stroller, and she slides herself right out of it if I don't strap her in quick enough. My little baby is getting so independent! I just love her, she is the highlight of my every day.

Halloween!

2008-11-06T13:04:00.001-08:00

What a fun time we had in October! So many fun things to do. I'm so glad the weather has been so beautiful this fall, we've been able to play outside a lot, which Rebecca loves. Here we are at the local pumpkin patch. My friend and I picked the right time to go, we had the place to ourselves, and it was soooo cute! They had rows of pumpkins, corn stalks, hot chocolate and cookies, this cute barn, and a straw-bale maze. It was really fun! I tied Halloween ribbon in Rebecca's pigtails, but you can't really tell. Too bad. It was a battle keeping them in her hair all day!

We finally got around to carving our lovely pumpkin on Oct. 30 Rebecca looked like she wondered what in the world I was doing the whole time. She can say "pumpkin" really well now! We saw so many last month, it's no wonder! I dressed her up in her fairy pajamas and let her wear the fairy wings from Grandma K. She loved them, and the wand. What a cute little fairy I have. She's so funny, I tell her to smile lately, and she does this cheesy smile, every time.

Our ward did a Trunk-or-Treat. We did games and dinner first, and a lot of people came, and it was a good time! Here is Rebecca planting a big smooch on her little friend the skunk!

Here we are, the fireman and firewoman with our Dalmation. I like to dress up. What a fun day...we saw so many neat costumes!

Fabulous Fall

2008-10-10T09:42:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the past month. Fall is officially here, and I am loving it! The weather has been just beautiful and Rebecca and I have been spending lots of time outside. Here is my new favorite picture of her. And these next two pics are just for my mom. Thanks for the cute outfit! Too bad it's too cold to wear anymore :(

Rebecca loves the swings. I take her to the park most day and it is so cute to hear her laugh and make "wheeeee" sounds.

Rebecca at 14 months old.

And, the messes continue. Seth and I are finally finishing Rebecca's room. We got the new window put in and are working on the sheetrock. Rebecca got into the mud and decided to see how it tastes. YUCK!! She sure looks happy though!

THANK YOU to my wonderful parents for coming up to watch Rebecca while I helped the kids do their parts in the Primary Program. I must say, I am really glad the program is over! The practices were a bit stressful, but the kids pulled through in the end and did a great job. I was really pleased with it. Children have the spirit with them so strongly and I always look forward to the primary program. I've just never been involved with it like this before. It sure is easier to just sit in the audience and enjoy! I really do appreciate my parents coming up to support me though. They are fabulous!!!

So, Rebecca will be 15 months old this coming Sunday. I practice with her many times a day, but she has NO confidence when it comes to walking. She does great as long as I'm holding her hands. She is a SMART baby though, I'm not worried. She's a late walker, I guess, but it will come! Here we are practicing in the back yard.

Here we are walking and playing at the park with Samuel, Rebecca's best buddy. They are SO cute together. They always get so excited to see each other.

I would like to join Clancy in acknowledging the fabulousness in my life this Friday!
1-Seth has been so sweet and helpful to me this week. I love him so much.
2-Rebecca had a fever this week of 104.5 Then she had a scary rash all over her face and body for 3 days. Who knows what it all meant, but it is gone now. She also ate next to nothing for 5 days. She is back to normal and I'm so grateful. Having a sick baby is so hard.
3-I've been thinking of how I could save some extra money each month because I really feel we need to have some food storage. I was sad because I didn't see how I could do it without it taking a year or more before I got a decent amout of food storage. But, I thought small steps are better than nothing. So I started. Then a few days ago, Seth's parents gave us A TON of food storage. We are set for a while. What a blessing and an answer to my prayers. THANK YOU Mom and Dad Wistisen, we appreciate this soooo much!!
4-It's going to snow this weekend and I have a nice warm cozy house to stay in.
5-We are finally working on Rebecca's room! I love a good project. Our entire house has been a project, let me tell you. But it's been a while since we did anything major. This weekend we plan to take down wallpaper, get the trim up, and get primer on the walls. I'm so excited to finally have my little girl's room look more girly! And Seth gets off at noon today so we can get going on it! HOORAY FOR THE WEEKEND!!!

Rebecca loves these toy necklaces, she's always wearing a few of them, it's funny.

Rebecca would love for us to read to her all day long. She is getting so smart. She points to everything, and knows what the moon is, the fence, spoon, bib, trees, ball, lots of others. I love to read with her and am glad she loves books so much.

Now that the weather is getting cooler, I know Rebecca will miss BUS RIDES!!! She loves her little bus and even buzzes her lips as she rides. I just laugh. She is so dang cute!!!

Hiking

2008-09-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, there probably won't be very many more days like this! A few days ago, we set out to find a hike up in Kelly Canyon that I've heard a few people mention. We had a great time, and it was such a beautiful day with beautiful views from the top.
Rebecca had a great time too! I only had the backpack on for a little while, thank goodness. She is getting heavy!

Wheat Harvest

2008-09-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Since I grew up in Utah, in the city, I basically knew NOTHING about farming until I married Seth. We've been married 4 years, and every fall he loves to go to Bancroft to help his dad drive the tractor and harvest the crops. I usually go with him (with the exception of last year, since I had a newborn) and the first time I rode on a combine, I was amazed and impressed. Those machines are AWESOME!! And I'm still amazed and impressed! Seth's dad explained to me how far they have come too...you used to get so dusty and dirty and have to do a whole lot more manual labor. Not anymore, you steer with one hand and control everything else with the other. And you can talk in normal voices, no yelling, even though the machine is loud. In the cab, it is nice! Radio and air conditioning too, and no dust flying around. Anyway, farming is a totally different lifestyle than what I grew up around, but I'm glad this city girl fell in love with a country boy. I appreciate farmers and the work they do. I'm glad to be related to farmers and have a chance to be around during this wonderful time of the year...the harvest.
We dressed Rebecca up in her cute little overalls for her first ride on the combine. She loved riding around with Grandpa!

Here she is driving...oh, boy!

Seth, Dad, and Rebecca went around a few times and I just wandered around and took pictures and had time to think. It was so nice to just be out in the middle of nowhere, all alone. I really like that sometimes, and in Idaho Falls, there is nowhere to be alone. It was nice though, I reflected on my life and all my blessings, set some goals, and prayed. I know Heavenly Father is aware of me and He blesses me every day of my life.

Rebecca loves to give kisses lately. It is so cute. Anytime we say goodbye to someone, Rebecca puckers up and leans forward to kiss them goodbye. At Seth's work party last weekend, she wanted to kiss the boss's 5 year old son over and over again. She grabbed his shirt and kept yanking him over for more kisses. He was so patient with her and just kept letting her kiss him. Here she is kissing baby Rylie. She is so gentle and sweet with other babies, I'm so proud of her. Also, when Seth and I pray on meals, we kiss afterwards. So we tell Rebecca, "fold your arms, it's time for prayer." She'll fold her arms and the minute the prayer starts, she puckers up and waits patiently for the prayer to be done, so she can kiss us both. I love it.

Summer's over...WHEW!!!

2008-09-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

First of all, I must say THANK YOU to everyone who had advice for me about my milk dilemma. It's been a month and Rebecca is slowly doing better. I've tried a lot of your suggestions, and I'm thankful for friends who know more than I do on parenting topics and are willing to help me. Thanks!!!

What a fun summer we had. We were home this past weekend, and I think it was the first time in 7 weeks. Busy times! It's been really fun though. At the end of July, we had Seth's family reunion. Since it is so expensive to travel lately, his parents decided to have the reunion at their farm in Bancroft. Here is their beautiful home, where Seth grew up. I love to go to Bancroft, it is such a peaceful place to me, a real get-away whenever I go there. It's like life slows down when I'm there. It is such a beautiful valley too. So this was Rebecca's first camping trip. We slept in the tent together...the first night. Rebecca is so wiggly!! And she woke up 18..22...38 times, I don't know, I lost count. We slept inside the next few nights, and everyone was much happier!!
What a great place to camp, huh? Nice soft grass.

Here we are, all the Wistisens in our matching shirts ready for the big parade on the 24th of July. This day is really big in Bancroft, a lot of people are there, and you can not say that on any other day of the year! The parade is fun, they go down the street and then turn right around and come back so you can see the other side. And every one of my nieces and nephews got an entire bag full of candy. They throw an amazingly large amount of candy out.

Here we are at the Lava Hot Springs Pool! I haven't been here since I was about 12 or so, but I used to love coming here as a child. They've got new water slides, very fun! Rebecca wasn't too sure about the water. She slept on Grandma's lap most of the time.

This was pretty constant at the reunion...Rebecca's cousins LOVE her!! I'm glad we all live so close and are able to get together once a year. The cousins are all so cute together, and it's fun to relax and talk with all my in-laws. I am so blessed to have married into such a great family. We have fun together many times a year and I love and admire Seth's family so much and hope to have a strong and close family like them of my own.

The Ol' Fishin' Hole! Grandma gave out some pretty fun prizes every night at the fish pond.

At the races on the 24th. Rebecca raced all the one year olds. She didn't win, but she finished!! Daddy was so proud :)

This is the Wistisen Homestead, where Seth's ancestors came and settled in Bancroft from Denmark. Pretty cool!!

We went to Chesterfield to look at family history and take a tour. I love to look at old stuff and learn about our great heritage.

By the end of the reunion, this is how Rebecca felt. 10 cousins playing with her all day every day. Good thing she is such a happy, good-natured baby. She took it all really well, but sometimes, you could just tell she wanted some space!! It was a really fun reunion, THANK YOU Mom & Dad Wistisen for all you did, and the great memories!

Some other things we did this summer...

Sleepover with Rebecca's cousins
They couldn't understand why she wouldn't turn around, sit still, and watch Cinderella with them!

We went to the Snake River Roaring Youth Jam, which is a community art day by the river. I go every year, and man-it is sure more fun with a kid! And it will be better next year, because Rebecca will want to do the art projects!!

Rebecca is learning to walk...she does really well, runs even, as long as she's holding my hands. Without support, she's not too daring yet.

Rebecca and I went to Utah to visit Grandma and Grandpa Kulicke for a week. It was so nice and relaxing, and my dad had the whole week off too! It was fun to be there. It's so cute to see my parents with Rebecca, she is their only grandchild and they light up around her.

Rebecca had a great time in the back yard learning to climb up stairs.

Rebecca loves corn, but she'd never had it on the cob until this day at my parents' house. She was giving us the cheesiest smiles, she had us all laughing so hard, and I got some great "corn pictures" as I call them now. So cute!

Grandpa giving Rebecca a piano lesson!! Rebecca loves music, she dances to it all the time, whether it's in church, on the radio, me playing the piano for her, or singing to her. She is a good little dancer!!

Rebecca in the rocking chair that belonged to my great grandma Peck. And wearing her sweet birthday dress that I love! Pretty in Pink.

Rebecca's first trip to the ZOO here in Idaho Falls. She was so cute, she'd point and wave to the animals and tell them, "hi." She especially loved the chikens, she thought they were saying "booga booga" and she was so excited and joined right into the booga fest!! It cracked me up.

Here we are with our friends Ryan and Leslie and their baby Rylie. (Ryan is Seth's cousin too.)

And last but not least, our garden was a huge SUCCESS this year! Here is the flower Seth brought in to me last week. Very nice, and grown by us! We have lots of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, corn, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins and sunflowers!
I love eating from my own yard! Someday I will learn how to can, and hopefully someday we'll have our own little "farm" ---an acre or two that we can grow lots of stuff on and then eat it all year. Yummy!! I love harvest time! I will do another post soon about harvest...Rebecca got to ride on her first tractor!! It's fun to have farmers in the family. We are trying to be farmers in our city way too. It's been fun this year.

My Milk Dilemma

2008-08-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have a question for everyone. What do you do if your one year old will not drink milk???
Babies NEED milk, right? That's what I've always heard, anyway. So when Rebecca turned one, a month ago I put some whole milk in her cup and she took a sip and threw it on the floor. She did this every day for a week, so I thought "I need to trick her."
So...I have tried so far...adding chocolate milk powder, watering it down, warming it up, and adding it to juice-sick, I know, but I am desperate! Every time, she tastes the milk, she throws the cup on the floor and will have nothing to do with it.
What do you think, all you experienced mothers? I am clueless, but I heard kids this age need 4 servings of milk every day. So could I just give her cheese and yogurt every day and nurse her in the morning and at night, and call that good? Or is she milk deprived because she isn't getting MILK? I know that now is the time she is building strong bones, so I still try every day, but it is getting frustrating. I don't show her that I'm frustrated though, I make it look like I don't care if she drinks it or not, I'm just offering it to her...BUT I DO CARE!! What should I do??
I have nursed Rebecca for a year now, and I am ready to stop, but since it is the only milk she gets, I am having inner conflict and feeling like I better just keep nursing, at least until I can figure out how to get the other milk into her.
Any suggestions??? Please???

Busy Baby

2008-07-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

I can not believe how fast Rebecca can make a mess!! WHEW-she is a little whirlwind, into everything.

All I have to say is THANK GOODNESS FOR NAP TIME!!! (So that I can clean it all up for her to do her work again when she wakes up.)

And, to end with, here is a funny Rebecca story. Seth has been calling Rebecca Booga Booga ever since she was born. He'll pop around corners and say "Booga" to scare her and stuff like that. She LOVES it and laughs whenever we say Booga. Kind of a funny little nickname for her. Anyway, last week Rebecca started saying Booga Booga, and it is so funny. Not surprising, since she has heard it so much in her life, but it cracks me up that this was her 4th word she learned how to say (after Da Da, Ma Ma, and HI).

Happy Birthday Rebecca!!!

2008-07-14T13:01:00.001-07:00

Well, I can hardly believe it, but my little Dolly turned one on Saturday. What an amazing year it has been. I love being Rebecca's mother more than words can say. Every day is wonderful and fun, watching my sweet baby discover the world. Everything is new to her, and it is like a second childhood for me. It is so much fun to see things as if they are new. I don't know how I ever lived without Rebecca! One of the biggest blessings in my life right now is that I get to be home with her. I don't miss a moment of her beautiful childhood, and she is getting more fun all the time!We had a party for Rebecca on Saturday in our back yard. WHEW!! 2 party weekends in a row in our back yard! It was fun to plan out and prepare for them though, and I love to have family at our house. We have a good time together. I'm grateful to have wonderful families that love and support us, and whose company we enjoy. I wish we lived closer and could do this more often. We want to thank everyone who came from so far to be with us on Rebecca's first birthday. It means so much to us!!

This is the fish cake my mom and I decorated for Rebecca. It turned out so darling!

Rebecca was spoiled by everyone!! She received so many nice gifts. Thanks everyone for helping to make this day so special and fun!! Even though she won't remember it...we will tell her all about it!! It was a really fun day.
We love our Becca Boo, she is the joy of our lives. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

4th of JULY!!

2008-07-14T12:38:00.001-07:00

What a fun day this was! I bought this little dress for Rebecca months ago, I thought it was so darling and had to have it. I love the 4th of July and I love my country. I truly am proud to be an American. This month I am memorizing all 3 verses of "The Star Spangled Banner." I think the words are beautiful and powerful and I know God truly has made and preserved our nation. I have always loved the 4th of July and I love how Idaho Falls goes all out on this day. There are so many fun things to do here.

Seth's parents came up to be with us all day on the 4th, which was a fun surprise. Rebecca loved being with them and we had a great day together.
I got all festive and painted Rebecca's and my toenails. It was hard to do hers, because they are so small, but it turned out so cute!!

And of course, I had to make her some holiday hairbows. I loved how these looked. I had a bunch of random ribbon, and I didn't know how I wanted it to look. Seth suggested I try to make them look like fireworks. So I tried, and I don't know if they really do, but they are cute anyway!!

MY SWEET LITTLE FAMILY!

Rebecca at the parade...she was so cute waving and clapping all the time. It was a good parade! And we had awesome seats in the shade! The parade comes right at the bottom of our street, very convenient and we walked to the river at night too to watch the fireworks, which were spectacular as always!! Rebecca watched them so good and pointed at them. I was worried she'd be tired and cranky, but she was so good all day. We had a lot of family up for a BBQ in our back yard, which was a lot of fun. And we blasted of lots of fireworks after dinner in the parking lot across from our house. It was such a fun day!

Chasing Rebecca

2008-06-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well, now that I have figured out how to blog again, I can't resist! 2 days in a row. Here are some more pictures from the past while. We put Rebecca in a swing for the first time. She liked it ok, but it was one of those frozen days in May when it looked nice outside, but really it was freezing cold. We'll have to try it again now that summer has arrived! This lasted about 20 seconds, then we were so cold we left. At least I was cold! I don't think Seth has ever been cold in his life. Or else he just doesn't admit it! This is my life lately...saving my possessions from being ripped apart, slobbered on, or marked by tiny razor sharp teeth. I thought it would take Rebecca way longer to figure out how to get the little glass thing under the TV to open and get to my DVDs. No such luck. She is very observant, and she watched me do it once, and now she is a pro. And not only that, she also can get the case to my DVDs open so that she can suck and chew on the actual DVD. All my DVD cases also have teeth marks on the plastic covers. Very attractive.
While I was cleaning the bathroom on this day, and I THOUGHT Rebecca was in her room playing with toys, suddenly I heard a crash. I ran into the kitchen and there she was playing in the dirt. I was pretty sad, because Spike (yes, the plant has a name) is the first plant I have managed to keep alive for longer than 6 months my entire married life. So, Spike is no more, and neither is the table he was on. It went to the basement. This incident inspired me to REALLY baby-proof my house. Rebecca is quick and into everything!!!

Seth's sister gave us this little bike for Rebecca. It is the perfect size for her, and she loves to scoot back and forth on it. She was so happy until...well, you'll see...

At least she fell on the grass!!! And last, here is another funny Rebecca story. My mom had some chocolate covered pretzels in a box on the floor. We were busy scrapbooking and didn't notice for a while that Rebecca found the pretzels and decided to have a little snack. I don't think she's ever had chocolate before this, but as you can see, she's a true woman and she loves it! That's my girl! It made a really big mess, but we laughed.

Oh, one more. See the red phone in Rebecca's hand? Of course she wouldn't do it so I could get a picture, but she holds it up to her ear and babbles. She's so smart! How did she know that is a phone??? I think she watched her little cousins playing with it and just remembered that's what you're supposed to do with it.

Computer Genius!!

2008-06-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

WHEW!! I'm BACK! I have not blogged for nearly 2 months, not because I didn't want to, but because our computer has had PROBLEMS. There are some really evil people out there who just want to ruin people's computers for no reason. We clicked on something, who knows what started it all, and ended up with horrible viruses and a lot of bad stuff popping up on the computer. It was really slow, pointless to even turn it on, so finally we broke down and paid to have it repaired. WELL...everything on our hard drive was erased. All our typed up documents are gone, our music is gone...thank goodness I had all the pictures on discs, but I'm a little mad about it all. And scared it might happen again! Anyway..our computer is still not the same and it took me 30 minutes just now to fugure out how to put a picture on my blog, but I DID IT!! That's why I'm feeling like a computer genius at the moment! Most of the time I am a computer idiot! OK, on to what we've been up to... here is Seth's birthday, I gave him a little chair to put on his bike and ride Rebecca all over town. Doesn't she just look so thrilled about it? She LOVES it though, we took her on a bike ride around our neighborhood a few nights ago, and she is so cute. This was on one of the few nice days in May. I put Rebecca on the grass, she wasn't too sure about it at first, but we had fun eventually playing in the dandelions before Seth got out there and killed them all. We had a lot! But our yard has been whipped into shape over the past month. We have flowers in the front and a little garden popping up in the back. I love our cute little yard. Rebecca hangs out there with Seth in the evenings, it is so nice and shady at night.

Here is me and my little dolly on my first Mother's Day! I love being Rebecca's mother. I feel so blessed I get to hang out with her all day every day. She is my sweet little friend and she makes me laugh all day. Especially lately! I'll do another blog soon about all the stuff she is doing lately. She gets around, and quick! She keeps me on my toes, and I love it. She is so smart and is learning so many new things.

I think SPRING is really here!!!

2008-05-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it is May already. I always mean to update my blog more often, but life is so busy. I think spring may actually have arrived. At least I hope it has, because I put all of mine and Rebecca's winter clothes away today. She is wearing 12 month size clothes, it always makes me a little sad to put away clothes that are too small for her. She is growing and changing so fast. Here we are a few weeks ago, all ready for church. Rebecca loves to stand up lately

And I'm having trouble getting her to take naps at the times she used to, so I'll take whatever I can get-even if it's in her high chair for 20 minutes! (this happens a lot lately)

And I am not happy to report that this also happens a lot lately. See the nice couches we got from my parents because they got new ones? Now see the part where there is a little rip? Rebecca gets around quite well lately, she scoots herself backwards and around in circles. Her toys do not interest her as much as lint or dirt on the floor or the FUZZ IN THE COUCH!!! She pulls it out and eats it. You can't really see it hanging out of her mouth, but trust me, it is.
And she has a fistfull of fuzz also. Doesn't she just look so proud of herself? Little stinker. :)

Rebecca still loves her bathtime, she gets so excited when I put her in her little tub with her friend, the rubber duck.

We had a FEW nice days in May, these next pics are from one nice Saturday, we were so excited that we didn't even have to wear jackets.
Rebecca was loving being with Daddy. She gets so excited when he comes home from work. His new job is going really well...he got to hire his own crew and they work really good together. The house still hasn't sold, but the market is picking back up and we've had a few people look lately, so that's a good sign.

One thing Seth does lately is take Rebecca downstairs with him when he goes to get the laundry. He puts her in the basket with the clothes. She loves it.

Rebecca is trying to crawl! She just can't seem to get the one leg under her. And if she does, then she just goes onto her stomach and pushes herself backwards, as usual. But I think any day now, she will take off. I'm enjoying my last few days of not chasing her around!

And I just have to show off the cute magnet board I made for Rebecca. I had so much fun making it with Kerstin, I love getting all crafty together. We were so proud of ourselves for making these!

The month of March!

2008-03-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

Well, a lot has happened lately and I can hardly believe how fast time is flying. The month of March is almost over, here are some pictures from this month. Rebecca is moving around lots more. Here she is backed up to the couch, stuck. She was calling to me and this is how I found her. She is so cute and funny. I've been taking lots of springy pictures with Rebecca, even though I've had to do them inside,grrrr. Sometimes I pretend it is spring and take her outside anyway. But it is so cold still! I really can't wait for spring, it is my favorite time of the year.

Here is Rebecca's favorite seat. She will sit on her Daddy's shoulders while he does whatever, for a really long time. She pats his head and pulls his hair. She is not afraid of heights! He walks around with her up there all the time. We were out cleaning the house Seth built a few weeks ago and Rebecca was being fussy, so Seth put her on his shoulders and kept on cleaning windows. She was so happy to be up there!

a
Happy St. Patrick's Day! I used to wear these glasses to school every year on St. Patrick's day, even in high school. Rebecca didn't love them as much as I do, but she'll learn! She kept trying to yank them off. Speaking of yanking things off, she will NOT keep her socks on. It is a daily battle. Her feet are frozen, or I wouldn't care as much, but within 10 seconds of me walking away after putting them on, they are off again. The other day at the grocery store I got tired of picking her socks up off the ground for the 4th or 5th time, so I put them in my pocket. I got some looks from other people like, "you bad mom, it's so cold outside and your poor baby has no socks!!" But I really did try!!

My sister Heidi came up to visit us on her Spring Break from college for a few days. It was fun to have her here to hang out with. We had a good time. She will graduate in a month, and we are so proud of her!!

We got sick, all of us had the flu a few weeks ago. Poor Rebecca threw up a lot, it was her first time ever being sick. She is the most pleasant little sick girl though-you'd never know she was sick, she was so happy! And then all of a sudden...yeah. It was gross. I've never done so much laundry in a week in my life! I'm glad we are all over it now though. We ALMOST made it through the winter with no sickness!!

Here is Rebecca's Easter dress. These pictures are a bit dark, but her dress is so beautiful and she looks like a little princess in it.

And Rebecca was spoiled by the Easter bunny (her grandmas) We had a good Easter Sunday with Seth's family. We went to church in his sister Tina's ward in Smithfield, UT. The program was so nice and I'm so grateful for Jesus and for the new life that his resurrection brings to us all. Easter is such an important holiday, and I was sad to see how commercialized it is becoming--almost as bad as Christmas. I want to teach my kids the true meaning of these special days and help them feel the love of the Lord and understand all he has done for us. Of course, the fun parts are important too, I like to celebrate spring and color eggs and have fun traditions like that too, but we can't forget the reason!!

Seth went on a four wheeler ride with his dad over the Easter weekend, and they had a great time, except for this...little wreck. The four wheeler just stopped and tipped up, dumping Seth off. Thank goodness it stopped there and didn't keep going and land on Seth! Crazy Seth.

Our other news is that Seth got a job with a landscape company here. He started it today and we hope it will be a good job for him for a while. I am relieved that he is stopping the self-employment dream for a while. Maybe I will see more of him now!

Ready for SPRING!!!

2008-02-29T16:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I can't believe February is over already. It has been quite a busy month around here. We bought the house that Seth is building, since our construction loan needed to be repaid and no one had bought it yet. So now we own two homes which is kind of scary! Seth is just doing the finishing touches on the house and cleaning it and then it will be finished! It is a beautiful home and I hope it will sell soon. The market has been a bit slow lately, so we are trying to do lots of little extras in this house to make it more appealing.

We have sure had a lot of snow this winter. I can't remember the last time we had this much. I've stayed inside as much as possible, I know a lot of people that have had colds/flu and I just want Rebecca to stay healthy. So far it has paid off-she has not been sick at all so far. I'm really getting tired of winter lately though. Spring is my favorite time of the year. All the beautiful colors after the miserable white winter. I can't wait! I really want to start walking again too, I loved walking last fall, we have some really nice parks here, and a walking path around the river. I've been exercising at home, but I'm ready to get outside!

I am now in the Primary presidency in my ward. It is a fun calling, I really enjoy being there with all the kids. Seth teaches the 7-8 year olds, so he is there with me too. Rebecca loves other kids, she smiles and babbles at them. This calling is sure a lot of work though. It keeps me busy!

Rebecca is as fun and busy as ever. She is growing so much lately. She seems so tall to me. She sits up so well and is eating her fruits and veggies really well! When she is done eating, she shakes her head really fast. She has learned to imitate things we do, like Seth's fake sneeze and laughs and different sounds. This week, her favorite thing to say is DA DA. She gets so excited when Seth comes home. She will NOT keep her shoes or socks on her feet. She is discovering her hairbows and bracelts lately, so who knows how long that will last. We have hardwood floors in our house and she has started pushing herself backwards while laying on her stomach. Who needs to crawl when you can just slide! She discovered her wrists a few weeks ago and now she waves. It is the cutest thing I've ever seen-the way she waves. She also claps her hands and screeches. It's so funny. I play this little piggy with her toes and when I finish, she holds up her foot for me to do it again. She is such a precious baby and we love being her parents. Here are some pictures from this month:

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Pigtails for the first time-so cute!

This is a rare occurrance lately. Rebecca doesn't take naps anymore. She falls asleep and if it lasts 20 minutes, I'm lucky! But she's so cute when she's asleep, she always puts her hands behind her head like this.

This was funny-Rebecca wasn't too thrilled about her fruits and veggies at first, and Seth wanted to see what she'd do with Salt and Vinegar chips-just for a laugh. Well....she loved it. She really did, it looked like we were feeding her the sweetest thing! So she is taking after her daddy on this, he loves chips. He was quite proud-forget the fruit, bring on the chips!!!

Seth saw this trick on the internet before Rebecca was born and decided to try it with our baby when she got old enough. I was hoping he'd forget. It scares me! But only the first few times, now I love it. Rebecca stands on Seth's hand and balances. She laughs and babbles and smiles so big like she is so proud of herself. It is pretty cute. She is strong!

I put Rebecca in the snow for the first time, just to show it to her. She was so cute. She couldn't decide if she liked it or not.

We are doing really well, things are good. I'm so glad it's MARCH tomorrow!

New Things...

2008-02-03T18:57:00.001-08:00

Before Rebecca was born, I thought our little house was just the perfect size for the two of us. Our house was built in 1928 and is 800 square feet on each level. The basement is not finished. We have 2 bedrooms, so basically a bedroom and an office. I had no idea how much STUFF you need when you have a baby. Wow. So since Rebecca has joined our family, our house has gotten even smaller it seems. Our office is done in an American theme. Now I'm thinking I should have painted it pink, but oh well! Good thing babies don't care what their bedroom looks like! Rebecca finally got her own room! We were holding off putting up the crib, because of how crowded we already are, but it's ok now. We moved the computer out to the living room and I don't think it looks too bad!

We also gave Rebecca her first solid food recently. It has been so much fun to feed her, she makes the funniest faces.

The first time we fed her rice cereal, she couldn't get enough! She had to hold on to the spoon and the bowl.

Some January photos...

2008-01-27T17:18:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures from this month. Rebecca is getting her first tooth!! It's just barely pushing through on the bottom. Here is her favorite toy to chew on. Poor baby has been fussy and just wants to cuddle all the time. Fine with me! There aren't many things more wonderful than cuddling with a baby. Snoozing with Daddy after a long day of work (for him)
We are so blessed to have another temple built in Rexburg, 30 minutes from where we live. We went to the open house, and it was so beautiful. The church does such a nice job at these events. You can see the heated walkway leading up to the temple. The workmanship in the temple is (literally) perfect. I felt such a sweet, peaceful spirit there and am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful to have the fulness of the gospel on the earth today, which includes temples and the opportunity to be with those we love for all eternity. That means everything to me.

Here is Rebecca's Baby's First Christmas ornament that I made for her.

Rebecca loves her toys and plays so well with them, by herself for as long as I need her to. I can get so much done and she just entertains herself. She makes the funniest noises too!

Sweet baby girl. This was the first time I ever did her hair this way. Now I have to, or it covers her eyes! I'm so glad my little girl has so much hair! It is fun to doll her up.

6 Months Old!

2008-01-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Rebecca Lynn is such a precious baby. I can't believe it's been six months already since she was born. She is growing and changing so much and we are so proud of her. We still feel so spoiled and are told all the time what a good baby we have. On our scale at home, she is 16 pounds. She is 26 inches tall. She's still as chubby and kissable as ever. She sits up on her own so well. She plays with her toys by herself so contentedly, and she lets me read to her. She turns the pages. Seth gets the best laughs out of her.
Here is the sweetest little face in the world!

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

Here she is, my beautiful New Year's baby. She is always so happy in the morning, just like her daddy. It makes my day every morning to see her little face smiling at me. My mom gave me these 2008 glasses. They actually light up, but Rebecca was not being too cooperative as you can see, so I didn't turn them on. Seth just shakes his head at the things I do to Rebecca for pictures. I love it though! And she'll laugh with me later, even if she wasn't laughing now! These pictures crack me up.
Especially this one. It's like she's saying, "All right, just take it and get it over with!"

Rebecca will be six months old tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll be taking some darling pictures and do a new post sometime next week. She even has a new hairstyle!

Here she is in her little cradle. Lately this has been happening a lot-feet or arms sticking out. Maybe it's time to put up the crib. Every time I suggest it though, Seth comes up with some excuse before saying, "but then she'll be so far away." He really does like having her in our room. Me, not so much anymore, since I hear everything and think she needs me when really she's just moving in the night like we all do. Here's a funny story from last night. Seth says that in the middle of the night, I sat up and started shaking him, saying "WHERE'S THE BABY?" He of course assumed I had looked in her cradle and she was gone, so he frantically looked around to find her sleeping soundly in her cradle. Meanwhile while he was looking for the baby, I had laid back down and gone to sleep. He was ticked. I think it's funny. So does he, really. And I don't remember a thing!

I'm excited for this year. I just feel like it will be a good one. I have so much good in my life, and now I have a sweet baby to raise and teach and love. I've come up with some good resolutions and hope I can stay on track to improve myself in this new year.

Baby's First Christmas

2007-12-29T10:06:00.001-08:00

OK!! This is going to be long, but I have a lot to say. Rebecca's first Christmas was absolutely fabulous. Of course she doesn't know it, but it was. We were gone Dec. 22-26. What a trip. I was a little nervous about how she'd do with all the people and commotion and sleeping in different places. But she did just great! She was so patient with being passed around in so many groups of people. She slept at just the right times. She was good at church. She hardly fussed at all! She is just the perfect baby, we are so lucky.
We had our own little Christmas at our house on the 22nd. Rebecca woke up and ate, we put her in her walker and then opened presents. Seth was throwing wrapping paper and bows at her, she didn't even blink. She was so tired! It was funny. Seth and I got some nice gifts. I love Christmas. It is fun to surprise the ones you love.
Then we headed to the farm in Bancroft for the traditional Danish dinner at Seth's parent's house. Here are my cute nieces Emilee and Eve with "baby Rebecca" as they call her.

Here's the Danish dinner, it is so good! The little pancake puffs are called Abelskievers. Very tasty, with apples inside.

We usually do a pinata on Thanksgiving, but most of the kids weren't there this year, so we did it for Christmas. Rebecca got to go first. The kids were so cute and excited.

We did a white elephant gift exchange. It was fun. We ended up with really decent stuff, and got rid of a hideous lamp that has been in our basement.

Seth's mom and all the kids put on a Christmas pageant. It was really neat, with beautiful costumes. The kids all did so well. I love the Christmas story. Jesus came from humble yet magnificent beginnings. Rebecca got to play baby Jesus, which was so special to me.

And here she is, smacking on her fingers (upside down of course) having a great time with Grandpa Wistisen.

Here we are in our house opening gifts before we left.

We got Rebecca a walker for Christmas. Boy was this hard to find! I hate Winnie the Pooh, but we pretty much had no options. It is actually pretty cute, and Rebecca loves the toys. The only problem is her feet don't touch the floor so she just kind of hangs there. I wonder if her feet go to sleep.

My parents gave Rebecca this high chair. She loves to be right there while we are eating.

It was pretty funny to watch her suck on this candy cane. It has the wrapper on, but all of a sudden her expression changed...she made it through the wrapper. She liked it after a minute.

Here we are on Christmas morning opening presents.

Rebecca liked the wrapping paper the best.

I can't remember the last time we had this much snow at Christmas. It was so beautiful on Christmas day-tons of snow and a bright blue sky.

Every year on Christmas day, we go to my grandparent's house in Bountiful for yummy food and singing Christmas songs. I never knew how much I loved this until I was on my mission. I returned from my mission the next Christmas (Dec. 23) and was so glad I only had to be away for one Christmas. I'm not the best singer, but I love to listen to these beautiful songs about the Christ child. I'm impressed with my Grandma's piano playing skills. She is so good!

This is the last year we'll be there in Bountiful on Christmas day. I'm a little sad about that, since it's the only time I really ever see my extended family anymore. I'm looking forward to starting my own traditions with my little family though.

Above: Rebecca's legs are so strong! She stood up against this couch for such a long time and smiled and laughed at my mom. So cute.

Below: 4 generations!! Rebecca Lynn, Me, My Mom and my Grandma Nelson.

Merry Christmas! We sure had a great one, it was so nice to spend it with all the people we love so much. We are so blessed to have wonderful families.

5 Months Old!

2007-12-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

Last Christmas was not so good. I was horribly sick--morning sickness. When we got out our 4 foot tall fake tree we've been using, the stand was broken, so Seth bungee corded it to a nightstand so it would stay upright. We put the lights up and that's as far as we got on decorating last year. Let me just say, it was pathetic! Anyway, this year I was determined to do better. Way better. We got a great deal on a new fake tree and it is 7.5 feet tall and really nice. My favorite thing is that it is pre-lit. That is the only way to go!! So nice, just put it together and plug it in. I love my ornaments and I'm a little worried about next year. Rebecca will be old enough to do damage. But this year was good, all she could do was look! And she loved it! It's so funny to see her looking at lights, it's like she can't decide which one to look at. So cute.
So here is our little Christmas baby on Dec. 12-five months old.

2007-12-29T09:31:00.000-08:00

The month of December has been wonderful. I can't believe it's almost over already. Rebecca is growing and changing every day. She is getting so strong. She sits up pretty good by herself, for a little while (she still falls over a lot). She makes loud wet noises when she is happy, it is pretty funny. She takes much shorter naps and loves to be awake and doing whatever we are doing. She loves her toys now and reaches for them. She can pass toys from hand to hand. She lights up when Seth comes home from work. She loves music and sways back and forth while standing on my lap when music is playing. She has the sweetest little smile and such a great personality. She is so easy going and fun to be with. She is a great shopping partner too! We love our little baby so much. Here are a few of her accomplishments this month:

Rebecca sucks on her fingers upside down. It's so funny looking!

Here she is rolling over!!!

And she found her feet. Lately she loves putting them in her mouth.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-20T09:26:00.003-08:00

I have been thinking about my wonderful life lately. I have so much to be thankful for. My heart is so full of thanks at this time and I wanted to write down the top ten things I'm thankful for this year.
1. This beautiful world. Specifically my little spot of this beautiful world. I love Idaho Falls. It is such a good place to live. I like how there are so many nice parks to go walking at. There are always fun events in the community. And plenty of good places to shop. The temple is 3 minutes from my house.
2. My body. I have been amazed with it over the past year. It has grown a child, delivered the child, and now makes food to feed the child. Amazing. I'm grateful my body is healthy too.
3. Marriage-what a blessing. I'm so glad I have someone to share this life with, to work towards worthwhile goals with, to laugh with, to struggle through trials together with, to take care of and to have take care of me.
4. I have a husband who cleans! I do not know anyone else who can say this. All my friends complain about their messy husbands. Not me. Just last week, Seth got down all my decorative plates and pitchers off the top of our kitchen cabinets and cleaned them. Then he cleaned all the windows in our house. Also, he is a handy man. That is the only kind of husband to have, in my opinion. A neat handyman-I'm so blessed!
5. Children (specifically mine!) Rebecca is the sweetest little person I have ever known. What an honor to be her mother, to help guide her through this life. I have so much to learn from little children-they are so trusting and innocent and carefree and honest and loving and forgiving. Children just make the world a better place.
6. I am grateful that my little Saturn still runs! Oh, we have had way too many car troubles over the past year. My car has a horrible transmission problem, but it still gets me where I need to go. I'm tempted all the time to curse my car, but I'm trying to remind myself lately that I'm glad I have it. Without it I'd be walking!!
7. I am grateful for commandments. I'm so glad our Heavenly Father didn't send us to this Earth and then leave us alone wondering what we're supposed to do. Commandments keep me safe and happy and I am glad to follow them, because of all the blessings I've received. I know God keeps his promises. Over the last few months, I've gained a stronger testimony of tithing. The windows of heaven have truly been opened and we are ok!! I know we always will be because God will take care of us if we do our part.
8. I'm grateful I was born in America. How awesome is that? I could have been born in Afghanistan and be in the middle of poverty, disease and war. I love my free country and I'm so grateful for those who put their lives on the line to keep it that way.
9. I'm grateful we were able to insulate our house a few months ago and so now I won't freeze this winter.
10. I'm grateful I'm not pregnant, because last year on Thanksgiving, I was barely pregnant and I think I ate a roll and a few bites of potatoes. I'm going to pig out this year!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!! BE THANKFUL FOR ALL YOU HAVE!!!

Fabulous Fall!

2007-11-20T09:26:00.002-08:00

I love the fall. September, October, and November are some beautiful months! I love the leaves and the way the air smells. I loved the beginning of the school year all the time I was in school, wearing new clothes as a child and using my new school supplies, learning new things. I love jacket weather, coats are too big. I love it when your hands and cheeks are cold and you come inside and it's so warm. I love the holidays-Halloween, so spooky, tricky, goulish and fun. Thanksgiving, so warm and cozy with good food and the people you love. I love getting out the recipes I only make at this time of the year (they usually include pumpkin).
Anyway, this fall has been beautiful. It hasn't been really cold most days. I've taken the baby walking every day, and it is so good to be outside in the fresh air with the beautiful fall colors to look at. What a good life I have. Here are some of my favorite pictures from this fall. Fall is almost over (sniff) and then...winter. I can't say I like winter. I hate to be cold. Thank goodness for Christmas to brighten things up for a while. I think January and February are so dreary though. Oh well, what can you do? They're coming anyway.

Here she is, 4 months old in this picture!! She was having fun shaking these fake leaves.

We planted a garden for the first time this year. What a mess. We planted so much stuff and nothing grew but these pumpkins! We got 10 pumpkins, most of them are still green. This is our biggest one. We're pretty proud of it.

I went to visit my parents in Utah and was there on Halloween day. We watched the kids' Halloween parade at the school where my mom works. There were some great costumes! That brought back fun memories of Halloween when I was little. My mom LOVES Halloween, I think she has more Halloween decorations than Christmas. She always made me the best costumes. Some of my favorites are the tooth fairy and a unicorn. Thanks mom, for letting me be whatever I wanted! I think if my kids are that creative, I'll say..."how about being a witch? Or a ghost? or dracula?" Something I can do! My mom is great though, I always knew she could make any costume I wanted.
Do you like the arrow going through mom's head? Very nice. And all she had was a headache from it.

This is Rebecca and Samuel. We go walking with Samuel and his mom Pam every day.

I had fun making this headband for Rebecca. There is a spider on top, I love it!

Look at her!!

2007-11-19T13:50:00.001-08:00

Well, I know I am biased, but I think Rebecca is brilliant. She is not even 4 months old in these pictures and she is sitting up by herself!! I'm so proud!

Seth the Builder

2007-11-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

Lots of people ask me about Seth, how he's doing, how the house he's building is going. So I thought I'd talk a little about my hard-working husband and show some pictures of the house. First of all, I must say that this house is beautiful. Every time I go out to see it, I love it more and more. Then I go home to my little house in town and wish the big house out there in Rigby was mine. Eventually I stop wishing for things I can't have right now and be grateful for my cute little house in town again. But I sure hope that one day Seth can build a house like this for us.

The house sits on one acre. I always think an acre looks huge, but once you put a house on it, it doesn't look so big anymore. I think it is the perfect size, especially since we live 3 feet away from our next door neighbors. Space is good! And then you have room for a garden and a shed and lots of room for the kids to play. I like this subdivision, it is really nice.

Aren't the arches pretty? I love them and there are 3 in this house. Seth has gotten to be quite the little pro at tile lately too.

The house is full of nice big windows. Lots of light.

And here is the master bath. Notice the bench in the shower and the rounded tub deck. If you go to the left there is a huge closet. My clothes would take up 1/4 of the space, I think. It's big.

I'm so impressed with Seth and the quality way he builds his homes. He does so many extra things to make the home nice and unique. He told me recently that there is nothing he would do different if he was going to live in it himself. I know a lot of builders cut corners because it's not for their family, so they don't care as much-just get it done and sell it. Not Seth! That is something I really admire about him. He really does take pride in his work and try hard to make a product people will be glad to buy.

Good job Seth!! I love you and am so grateful for all the hard work you do to provide for our family.

SO CUTE!!!

2007-11-18T13:24:00.003-08:00

To my vast audience of blog readers (ha ha) : I just have to show off these darling bracelets that my sister Kerstin made. I'm lucky she is so crafty, my baby wears them every day, and I get compliments on them all the time.

These pictures don't do the bracelets justice, I couldn't get the camera to focus very good. Aren't they beautiful though??

Rebecca is never completely ready for the day unless she has a bracelet on and a bow in her hair. I must say, I love having a girl! It is so much fun to doll her up.

Kerstin has made a bunch of these bracelets to sell, and I'm selling them for her too. Get this--they are only $5.oo each. That is a deal. I have seen them in stores for $9-12.oo each. So, if anyone is interested, let me know and your baby can be as darling as mine!! :) They make great, unique gifts too. And we have all sizes, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, and on.

Now, this is awesome. Kerstin also created these binky holders. They are so pretty. I have this one and one with flower beads. So fancy! Everyone compliments me when I have these clipped to Rebecca's clothes. And I love it because then the pacifier doesn't get dirty as it constantly is falling out of Rebecca's mouth. Everyone needs one of these. They are also a killer deal at $15.oo each.

And just check out how cute they are on!!! I love these bracelets so much. Thanks, Kerstin, for all the work you've done to contribute to my baby's cuteness!!

How crafty are we!

2007-11-18T13:24:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday, Seth's sisters, mom, and I got together to make Christmas cards. We each came up with a card idea and brought enough supplies for each person to make five of our cards. So we all ended up with 30 beautiful cards. I was really impressed with all of them--everyone did a really nice job on their card ideas, I thought. Here are all the cards we made.

We started at 1:30 and didn't get done until about 5:30. It was an all day event, and I loved it! I love crafty things and creating something fun to share with my family and friends this holiday season. We had Christmas music on the whole time. It was fun to get into the holiday spirit.

Just look at what a mess we made though! Good thing mom put up another table so we could spread out more.

Here we all are! It was a fun day, good to be together. And Rebecca was so good the whole time too. Whew!

Daddy's little girl

2007-11-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

A year ago, when we found out we were going to be parents, I asked Seth if he wanted a boy or a girl. And of course, he wanted a boy. We had the ultrasound done in March, and it was so amazing to see our little child. We were told it was a girl, and we were so happy. I think Seth had to mourn the loss of his boy, but only for a minute. He has loved her since the moment he saw her, as you can see here:

And Rebecca loves her Daddy, too. She gets so happy lately when he is around. After being in Utah for a week and not seeing him, she just stared and stared at him the night we came home. I love watching the two of them together. Dads add so much fun to life. He is a lot rougher with her than I am, but she loves it.

It's neat to see Seth being a dad. I always knew he'd be a good father, because he is so cute with all our nieces and nephews-they all adore him. He takes such good care of Rebecca, like in this picture. He got her ready for the day, all decked out in her John Deere socks. And I don't know where he found the green socks for her hands, but here they are!

And here is one from this week. Rebecca could hear her Daddy talking, but couldn't see him, so what did she do? She found a way to look at him. She keeps us entertained!

At this Thanksgiving time, I am so grateful for a good man who is our little girl's Daddy. What a sweet little family I have.

I'M BACK!!!!

2007-11-13T08:44:00.001-08:00

Well, it has been forever since I last updated my blog. We changed internet companies (twice) and didn't have the internet for a few weeks. I didn't know how much I like having the internet until it was gone! So I'm glad it's back and now I can blog and email again.

Rebecca is adorable. She is growing and changing so much. She is already four months old. I took her in for her checkup yesterday and she weighs 14 pounds. She is so healthy and happy and lately she has learned how to sit up (by herself!) only for a few seconds before falling over smiling. She also uses her voice A LOT! She makes this high pitched sound over and over again. It is so funny. She is still such a good baby- as long as she's in the same room with us she doesn't cry. She just likes to know and see what is happening. She loves to watch us eat. She watches the fork go from our plates to our mouths and back to the plate. We love her so much and we tell everyone how much she spoils us.

POTATO PRIDE!!!!

2007-09-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-19T08:34:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-09-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-11T20:09:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

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.

OK!!! I have a blog!

2007-08-29T13:07:00.001-07:00

Whew! Creating a blog for myself wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! I've been looking at a few blogs on a regular basis, and I decided maybe I should try it out myself. Especially since I live far from family and friends, I want to be able to share pictures of my darling little baby. This seems like a great way to keep in touch and share thoughts and experiences.
I love being a mother. It is even better than I thought it would be. Rebecca is so sweet and fun. She changes a little every day and is getting so strong and big. I love chubby babies. She still sleeps a ton, so I love it when she is awake and she is starting to interact with me more. I love her smiles, they just melt my heart.