{ mitchell & erin }

a half birthday and a full birthday

2015-04-18T17:34:00.001-06:00

6.5 months

has perfected the army crawl

loves bath time

constantly has things in his mouth

I looooooove this kid … like a lot.

I tried and tried … to get Winter to put on some clothes for some pictures. No deal. Nude and crazy. I love her.

I had a birthday … combined with easter and general conference. Triple whammy.

30.

Not quite sure how I feel about this one. Kind of a hard pill to swallow.

Its not the wrinkles or the weak bladder control that scares me … its the fact that life is passing too fast. Some days just seem to drag but then birthdays and anniversaries sneak up on me and slap me in the face. They seem to say, “Get your act together, Erin. Stop focusing so much on the daily grind and start playing more with your kids. Stop and breath and take in your surroundings.” So I guess that will be my goal for my 30th year.

Mitchell put his handy dandy homemaking skills to good use and made an easter bread basket.

That Mitchell is a keeper.

Speaking of Mitchell being a keeper ….

I was telling Mitchell before my birthday how I haven’t really felt pretty or even “put together” for a really really really long time. He handed me this on my birthday.

I have been talking about how I want to color my hair for a while now. I have wanted an “ombre” style but just couldn’t justify spending the money especially since we have set a strict budget. Mitchell granted my wish and even threw in a little spanish humor. Keeper, I tell ya.

high five! … and a half

2015-03-25T18:47:00.001-06:00

Yeah … its actually more like 5 months and 3/4 …. this whole two kid thing is cramping my blogging style.

This boy is a steamroller. Rolls across the room, banging into any and everything.

He has only had ONE blowout in all 5.75 months of his existence. TMI? Maybe.

He has started solids and hasn’t turned down anything yet. Such a boy.

Sleeping? Kind of. He will sleep from 7 –4 one night and then the next night cry for an hour around midnight. Not so consistent … but it is progress from waking up every 2 hours. I’ll take it.

He is soooooo cute. I know all parents think that … but I seriously love just looking at his little face. His smiles make bad days not so bad.

Behold!

Feast your eyes on those unders. Hallllllelujah.

We started potty training (again) with some help from my most wonderful ahhhhmazing mom.

Mission accomplished.

Winter has a lot going on in the personality department.

Her nursery leaders tell us that she is the mother hen. She likes to feed the other kids and bring them toys when they are crying. They also tell us that she is a very confident singer.

Whenever I tell Winter not to do something or to be careful she will say, “don’t worry, its nuffing.”

She likes to call Forest “her baby” and its pretty darn cute.

goings-on

2015-02-07T19:57:00.001-07:00

- We have started to follow the Dave Ramsey cash/envelope budget system. We just started it at the beginning of January and well, I love it. I love to be able to physically hand someone real cash and not just swipe a card. It is so easy to go over budget when using plastic.

- We are still living in the same apartment. There is a family who is living below us with three kids, so we figure we can make it work with two kids just fine. At times we feel crammed and trying to have a two year old and a baby who isn’t sleeping at night share a room is a not so funny joke. (seriously people, any advice on kids sharing a room is more then welcome) Patience is something Heavenly Father wants us to learn I suppose when it comes to the whole house thing, so patience we shall learn. And until the day we get a house, I will continue to happily live vicariously through my Pinterest boards HAHA.

Food kicks we have been on as of late:

two words – Bahn Mi sandwiches. If you live in Utah, go to the nearest Oh Mai and get yourself a sandwich right now. Can’t get enough … I’m craving one this very minute.
I have become somewhat of a tea hoarder these days. Licorice tea with a bit of honey has won me over.

- Mitchell is still in the Young Men’s Presidency in the ward and I am still the primary chorister. For those of you who have been keeping track (I’m pretty sure the bishop and the primary pres have not), I have been in this calling for over 4 years now. FOUR years. Still blows my mind. I love the primary kids, so I can’t complain … too much.

Four month stats:

13 lbs 2 oz (7th percentile)

25.9 inches long (80th percentile)

Forest loves to laugh and hands out smiles to just about anyone.

Sleep …. ahhhhh sleep how I miss you. We tried sleep training and the method that trained Winter in 2 days failed miserably. So we started again last night and lets just say that there was a 2.5 hour cry fest which resulted in a massive splitting headache for me. I am hoping and praying tonight goes better … if not, I will be turning to more Downton Abbey and old Parenthood episodes to help keep me somewhat sane around 2 a.m.

He is rolling over and is hating it. He doesn’t like the helpless “beached whale” feeling

three months

2015-01-11T16:43:00.001-07:00

3 months, say what?!

He is currently still waking up every two hours at night (which is killing me) As much as I hate it, I smell some sleep training in the near future. This mama is tired of having a zombie brain.

He is laughing and smiling

We hear he looks like Mitchell all the time … I don’t think I have heard anyone say he looks like me yet.

He can roll onto his stomach

We are one physical therapy appointment away from being able to say sayonara to torticollis. *fingers crossed followed by a happy dance*

Winter keeps us laughing daily.

Every morning she picks out a shirt and shoes to wear and then dresses herself. No pants. Ever.

She likes to pretend her name is Erin or Mitchell and thinks its the funniest thing ever.

Potty training is still a four letter word in our house.

Food staples: greek yogurt, tomatoes, beans, rice, parmesan cheese, apples, carrots, noodles and goldfish.

She LOVES nursery and church. She always yells “Yippeeeee!” when she finds out its Sunday.

Her pajamas are “jammies” and if you call them by any other name you better believe she will passionately correct you.

She is a huge fan of Dora the Explorer and gets so concerned about the poor animals who need help on the show.

Not So Silent Night

2015-01-04T14:50:00.001-07:00

We were invited to spend the night over at my parent’s house on Christmas Eve and we took them up on the offer. Winter and Mitchell slept in the same room while Forest and I bunked up elsewhere. Winter decided to wake us up at 5 am and she just couldn’t stop laughing when she realized that Mitchell was sleeping next to her. I was already awake (because you are ALWAYS awake when you have a baby), so I joined their party. So 5 am – 7 am consisted of lots of songs (sung very loudly), rolling around and laughing. I don’t know why she was even excited; to be honest we didn’t really even explain the whole Christmas morning thing very well .

For the past month or so, Winter has pretended to play Doctor. She would feel our foreheads, look in our ears, write down notes and give us shots. So the doctor play kit she got was just what the doctor ordered (har har). Every time she gives us a shot she tells us, “to close our eyes and think of something happy” (all you Daniel Tiger fans will recognize that line).

Forest enjoyed his Christmas as well … his two pacifiers. I just can’t justify buying stuff for a kid that does not care. I thought I had done a good job with just buying Winter four gifts … but after Christmas I realized that she would have been thrilled with half that many. Note to self: simplify Christmas even more next year.

Introducing Dr. Sassypants

You see that Instant Pot box? Mitchell gave me a sweet pressure cooker and I gave him a sweet ice cream maker. I think we have officially hit adulthood status: both received kitchen appliances and we were both excited.

And it wouldn’t be Christmas without some kind of weird family photos.

the torticollis & the hare

2014-12-06T13:10:00.001-07:00

Our sweet little monkey has torticollis. Summed up: his neck muscles on one side are crazy tight.

He favors laying on one side and as a result is getting a flat little noggin’. And his left ear and left side of his forehead are shifting forward as a result.

I’m glad we are getting this taken care of now or else our poor little boy would end up looking like Quasimodo. So now his days consist of a lot of exercises, stretching and going to physical therapy.

Here are his 2 months stats:

weight: 10 lbs 14 oz (25%)

height: 25 inches long (95%)

head: in the 25th percentile

We officially have a lurp in the family. But he sure is a cute lurp.

Oh, and just for the record: those dang two month shots are just as killer for mom with child #2 … not one bit easier. I was on the brink of tears.

Forest was blessed on Sunday.

Two very good looking boys, if I do say so myself.

Hallow’s Eve

2014-11-05T20:38:00.001-07:00

Goodness, I love this holiday.

Costumes … candy … awesome fall weather … incredible pumpkin/fall food … parties

How could you hate it?

We had our annual Hicken Halloween dinner

I had other costume plans … until I tried on multiple costumes and realized that I just had a baby two weeks ago. And when you have had a baby two weeks ago there is no way you are fitting into your old size unless you are a celebrity. Silly me. So we had to improvise fast … so Fantastic Mr & Mrs Fox it was.

Mirien invited us to come trick or treating with Hayley and Corinne (Winter’s cousins). Winter loved it so much. She had been saying that she wanted to be a dragon all week up until about 5 minutes before we left … Snow White it was.

I threw on some cat makeup (which Winter loved) … put Forest in the wrap and we headed out.

***What you are not seeing in this photo is the massive amount of baby puke all over my chest Forest decided to gift me with as soon as I put him in the wrap. The show must go on***

Mitchell had a costume contest at work. He made an excellent Marv (Home Alone) In fact, he won the contest.

And here is princess Winter.

one

2014-11-05T11:59:00.001-07:00

Time drags and yet flies by these days.

Having two kids is kind of chaotic and it has made Mitchell and I rethink how many kids we want. HA. I’m sure those of you with 5+ kids are rolling your eyes. I know it gets somewhat easier as your kids get older, but man, Mitchell and I are both sporting a few more grey hairs.

Forest is pretty cute though … all I have to do is just look at his adorable face and I forget about all the missed hours of sleep and my slowly dwindling sanity.

- He LOVES the sound of running water : I have a white noise app on my phone that has a running water option that I play all night

- He is crazy cranky from 6 – 10 pm : this is when I become brain dead. He refuses to eat and as a result gets even more mad. Acid reflux perhaps? I have already given up dairy … I have tried gripe water .. I have tried pumping and using a bottle … and I have tried formula. Who knows. These babies just always keep us guessing. I can only hope it gets better with time.

- Baby wearing is the best thing since sliced bread (especially with two kids) doing dishes and folding laundry is once again a feasible task.

- I love it when he attempts to eat my chin. LOVE. IT.

- I shower … sometimes.

- Winter’s ipad watching time has increased to my dismay.

- I have upgraded our diaper bag to a duffle bag … quite literally. The amount of snacks, diapers, changes of clothes etc for two kids is cuckoo.

- to sum it all up …

WE LOVE HIM LOTS

You know those super adorable sibling photos you see? There was no amount of trick or treat candy that could talk Winter into even laying next to him. Oh brother. She really does like him … I promise.

survival of the fittest

2014-10-13T19:43:00.001-06:00

We survived week one.

I always feel like that is a huge milestone. The newborn phase is one that I struggle with. YES I love my babies. YES I am super grateful to have him. But let’s face it – adjusting to a newborn’s schedule (or lack of schedule) is hard.

We had a doctor appointment today and this boy gained weight like a boss. He was 6 lbs 13 oz when he was born … after one week he is now *drum roll* … a whopping 7 lbs 5 oz. I’m crazy ecstatic. Breastfeeding has been stressful for me considering it just never panned out with Winter. I ended up pumping for 9 months with her and so this breastfeeding experience is new to me. Stressing about whether or not he is getting enough … whether or not he is eating too often … whether or not I am drinking enough water and eating enough food … whether or not he has a good latch etc etc ETC. Yes I’m crazy. So to hear that he is doing well makes me one happy mama.

Winter is adjusting slowly. We have been trying to give her oodles and oodles of love and attention so she doesn’t feel threatened by this new arrival. She is more stubborn, shy, moody and seeks attention. But boy does she love Forest. She loves to give him kisses and look at his little hands. These kids (still trying to get used to saying KIDS in the plural form … WEIRD) make my heart about explode.

oh boy.

2014-10-10T16:09:00.001-06:00

introducing:

Forest Lowe Fillmore

born Saturday October 4th

4:15 pm

6 lbs 13 oz - 19 inches long

Here are the dirty details for those of you who like that sort of thing.

Friday Night: I had some contractions that woke me up and kept me awake … but nothing that I really deemed exciting or promising.

Saturday Morning: We took an early morning walk to Smiths to get some bagels/donuts for breakfast; trying to make some progress in the contraction department … contractions were nonexistent. BOOOOO.

10:00 am – 1:30 pm We watched the morning session of general conference and then decided to order a pizza … because pizza is goooooood and Dominos had a deal. Winter insisted that we eat our pizza at a park so off we went to Sugarhouse Park. We ate pizza (highly recommend banana peppers as a topping guys – you won’t be sorry) and then I took a walk around the park. Contractions began and were coming every 7 mins or so (thank goodness for cool phone apps that can keep track of those) but I could still walk through them easily.

2:00 pm started watching conference, all the while still tracking my contractions

2:30 pm the contractions were stronger and about every 6-7 mins and lasting 45 seconds and I wasn’t super able to concentrate on any of the speakers. I still didn’t really see the need for alarm and thought we had plenty of time considering I was in labor for 23 hours with Winter.

3:00 pm I had to get on my hands and knees to make it through a contraction (that lower back pain is a beast). At this point I was STILL in denial that I was in active labor – I just thought I was a wuss or something. I climbed into the shower to help relieve some of my back pain while Mitchell called our midwife. She was 45 mins away and said she was on her way. During the shower the contractions hit HARD. I had to get on my hands and knees, gripping the tub and sounding like a wounded animal … hot water speeds things up I guess. Oopsies. I told Mitchell there was no way I could make it 45 more mins. He called the midwife back and she told us to head over to the birthing center and gave me specific instructions: DO NOT PUSH. She then called a midwife student who was closer to meet us there. At this point I was dying. I threw on a shirt, a pair of underwear (not garments, for those who might be mortified at this point) and some flip flops ( let’s be honest, pants were not my top priority.) Mitchell helped me out the door and down the stairs. I made it to the car and was crawling into the passenger seat when another contraction stopped me dead in my tracks.

Mitchell had also called his sister earlier to come and watch Winter, who was napping at the time. His sister pulled up as I was hanging halfway out the passenger side door trying to make it through a contraction. At this point I was 98.6% sure that I was going to have the baby right then and there. To say I was panicking would be an understatement. I wanted to crawl out of the car, onto the grass and have Mitchell check whether or not he could see anything going on … down there. Thank goodness for Mitchell. He got Winter up from her nap and down to his sister’s car and then shoved the rest of me into our car. He remained totally calm during this whole fiasco. Then off to the birth center with Mitchell’s sister following behind just in case we ended up having a roadside birth. The whole ride I just kept repeating this over and over while hyperventilating: “DON’T PUSH, please Heavenly Father don’t let me have a baby in the car, DON’T PUSH.” The simple “don’t push” request sounds easy but it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to resist. We got to the birth center just as a midwife student was there opening the door. We “walked” in (if you can call what I was doing walking) and started to make it up the stairs to the birthing room. I collapsed at the bottom of the stairs as another contraction began … as it subsided we booked up the stairs. I stood by the bed hunched over as another contraction hit and thankfully the rest of the midwife crew arrived literally 1 minute after we did. They laid out a “drop cloth” under me. I remember telling them, “It feels like I have to poop REALLY bad. I’m so sorry if I poop on you.” They reassured me it wouldn’t be the first time that happened if it did. Another contraction hit and BAM that baby came out while I was standing there beside the bed. I felt an awful lot like those giraffes you see giving birth on National Geographic. I didn’t even have to push thanks to glorious gravity. The midwife handed him to me from between my legs. It was crazy surreal. We had arrived at the center at 4:10 pm and the baby arrived at 4:15 pm.

Mitchell’s sister (Mirien), Winter and her cousin Hayley were all downstairs while this happened. They heard the baby cry and Mirien said: “Winter, that’s your little brother” and Winter said, “No, that’s a cat.” HA. They all came upstairs, Winter checked him out and was over it all pretty fast. She wanted to play with toys. Babies are sooooo boring. Winter went home with Mirien for a fun cousin sleepover and had a ton of fun (We owe Mirien a bajillion for coming to our rescue.)

We relaxed at the center for a few hours … they made us dinner and then we packed up and went home around 8 pm. I absolutely LOVED not having to sleep in a stupid hospital bed or having to tolerate hospital food. Three cheers for birthing centers!

lessons learned, truths reaffirmed and thoughts:

- it is actually quite liberating to walk out your front door in your underwear

- i can do hard things

- Mitchell is and will always be my hero.

- the Lord answers prayers and provides miracles … soooooo many miracles that day

- the recovery from natural labor is about 100 billion times better

- I saw my placenta for the first time and I about barfed as I thought about the people who make placenta lasagna or placenta smoothies. They did ask if we wanted to keep it … and we politely declined.

- boy plumbing is much different than girl plumbing (holy hannah peeeeeee shooter)

- I HATE the fact that Winter seems so big and old now. I have shed a couple tears over this.

- We are happy, incredibly grateful, healthy and TIRED.

37.75 Weeks

2014-09-21T12:00:00.001-06:00

D-day. It’s so close I can almost taste it. Okay, so its still like 2.5 weeks out – so maybe I can’t taste it … but I can smell it. I have had a really quite comfortable pregnancy … up until this last week. Puking. Diarrhea. Insomnia. Appetite is nonexistent. Heartburn … and constantly feeling like my stomach is about to explode.

Come on baby … come oooooooooooon. I’m ready for ya.

I had my last scheduled photo shoot last night in Park City. I was hoping that chasing around a cute family would put me into labor.

No. Such. Luck.

We went to visit the temple a couple Sundays ago and get a family photo. Every time we go downtown Winter tries to spot the temple and says “wwwwwwhere are you temple???” Goodness gracious I love that girl.

Speaking of Winter … here are some updates

Potty training failed big time. However, she is now an excellent cheerleader whenever I go to the bathroom. “Good job mom! You get a potty prize!”

She LOVES to make pancakes. She will wake up … and demand that we get her a bowl and then she will name all the ingredients she needs to whip some up. It. Is. Pretty. Cute.

We upgraded her to a toddler bed and she loves it. Haven’t had any problems at all. She has a slumber party each night with her baby, princess Rapunzel doll, daddy monkey, mommy monkey, rabbit and puppy. It’s a full bed for sure.

She keeps telling me that baby brother is going to come out. So hopefully she knows something we don’t. We still aren’t sure if she understands what is about to happen … but we are sure its going to blow her mind.

summer lovin’

2014-08-24T14:59:00.001-06:00

Summer. Where did you go? But seriously …

We spent Mitchell’s birthday doing something we all love … eating ice cream.

We went to the Fillmore family reunion in Provo

I have been busy buying little boy stuff and contrary to popular belief …

little boys are just as fun to shop for.

We attended the wedding receptions for Kevin Vaughn and Michelle Lowe.

Started to embark on this adventure … heaven help us.

Attended the Ogden Temple open house

Pregnancy update: 7 weeks to go before our world will be officially rocked.

I’m feeling great … just big. And I feel like I spend 75% of my days adjusting clothing … pulling shirts down and pants up. So to solve that problem … I just don’t wear pants anymore.

Oh and a bunch of photos of Winter … because I said so.

terrific twos

2014-07-01T20:32:00.001-06:00

I feel like this age gets a bad rap … and personally Mitchell and I think they should be called the “terrific twos.”

Yes, she has meltdowns.
Yes, she can be incredibly stubborn.

But holy hannah, she is so much fun.

To be honest, we didn’t really get anything for her birthday – unless you count a cheap thrift store puzzle.

So we thought we would fill her day with fun, beginning with a trip to a German bakery for some donuts.

We then headed over to the Discovery Children’s Museum.

And then finished off the night at a fair with some friends. This fair was Winter’s heaven … a noisy heaven filled with greasy fair food, sweaty teenagers and rides aplenty.

She was not okay with the length of the rides.

I showed Winter a blog post a while ago and she became obsessed with the animal masks

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/2014/04/party-animal.html

She would ask to see the “kitty mask” daily. I wanted to get everyone animal masks to wear for her birthday but just couldn’t justify the cost. So we settled on some party animals on her cake instead.

I really think her favorite part of the day was everyone singing Happy Birthday to her. In fact, she made everyone sing it a second time.

deja vu

2014-06-25T18:56:00.001-06:00

We started our house hunting many moons ago. We have been at it off and on for three years. Those three years have been filled with numerous bids, inspections, emotional highs and lows …

Well, about a month ago, we thought we had found the one. It had all of our criteria: big open floor plan, three bedrooms upstairs, a master bathroom, a huge unfinished basement, and it was in a really nice area (literally one mile away from the Oquirrh Mountain temple and Daybreak). We felt good about it and they accepted our asking price. We had an inspection done and began making remodeling plans right away. Mitchell was buying cool tools and I was busy finding sweet deals on the fun stuff - area rugs, curtains, etc and pinning away on pinterest.

Last night we had a fight with our house and broke it off. Long story short: there was an architectural issue we thought we could fix. Turns out we can’t. We stayed up till midnight last night going over measurements and researching numerous possible solutions. I cried … and then ate a bowl of cereal. We even had my uncle who has been in construction/remodeling since the beginning of time come and take a looksie today. His words, “You better run.” So we are lacing up our running shoes, doing some stretches and making a break for it.

Heartbroken? Yep. Frustrated and disappointed? You betcha.

Sound familiar?

http://fillmorespace.blogspot.com/2012/11/homeless.html

Are we cursed or something? Did we unknowingly step on one too many cracks? I steer clear of black cats and try to stay on the good side of all the voodoo witches I meet. What gives?

I spent today kind of moping around and trying to come to grips with reality – I may or may not have shed a couple more tears.

And I felt an awful lot like this:

After an afternoon nap I felt much better and am able to see the positives that can come from this:

1) We will be saving mucho $

2) I will still be super close to my beloved thrift stores

3) There will only be one bathroom to clean instead of three

4) We will be 5 minutes away from our birthing center instead of 30 mins, had we moved.

5) Winter and her new little brother will hopefully form an awesome bond, because now, they will be sharing a room.

6) We are happy, healthy and have WAY too much to be grateful for to be sad and grumpy about this situation.

So, for now – we will be giving the whole house hunting thing a break. I think any house we would look at in the near future would be like a rebound boyfriend … and we all know those are trouble and a waste of time. I think Mitchell and I will celebrate not spending crazy amounts of money with some ice cream tonight.

two for one.

2014-05-18T16:33:00.001-06:00

Mother's day. Dad's birthday.

This party was a twofer.

Oh and that massive plate o' sugar? That is just one of the many ice cream cakes Mitchell has constructed. I think this may have been the best one thus far in his cake making career. Layers of oreo, brownies, homemade fudge, butterfingers and ice cream .... that, my friends, is the recipe for success.

Why the heck do people need to age. Sometimes I just want to put my parents in bubbles and feed them crazy amounts of fruits and veggies in order to make sure they live to 150 years old. These years are going too fast people, make them count.

When you have your brothers and husband cut the cake and serve it .... it ends up looking something like this ....

My mom. What can I say? She really is one of the best people I know.

I love her more and more as I discover and experience more phases of motherhood. It really is a thankless job and the depth of love a parent has for their child is crrrrrrazy. Love you mom.

Winter and I's attempt at capturing a special day ....

19 weeks.

Mr. Magoo

2014-04-29T19:16:00.001-06:00

I don’t think Easter will ever be a big holiday in terms of gifts for our family. Do people still even try to sell the weird story of a giant bunny hiding baskets to their kids?

Winter enjoyed her Easter despite the absence of any kind of Easter basket or toys. I have to admit I was a wee bit scared for the Easter egg hunt portion of her day. Winter is horrible at finding things – just call her Mr. Magoo. She will run franticly around a room looking for her blanket and it will literally be right in front of her nose. She found them … with a little handholding.

Winter and I took a little field trip to Temple Square recently and I was hoping to get beautiful pictures of our cute little curly sue with the incredibly awesome flowers. Nope. I don’t know why I keep tricking myself into thinking “oh this time will be different and she will sit in one spot” or “this time she will actually look at the camera.” WRONGO.

About once a year I get an “expensive” haircut. Expensive to me is $35-40 … I know some of you are laughing at that amount but you must remember this is coming from the girl who uses Suave products because I’m cheap. My time had come and so I scheduled an appointment. My regular girl just had her baby so I decided to take a risk and go with someone else at the same salon. Don’t take risks people. Gambling. Russian Roulette. It’s not smart. I walked out and wanted to cry. It was a hack job. Weird long wispy pieces of hair here and there. And I even tipped her! I don’t know what my problem is. So I ran to Great Clips (yes I said Great Clips people) and they charged me $5 to play clean up. Moral of the story – listen to the prophet and don’t gamble or you will end up with a horrendous haircut.

Hair post clean up

Oh and our family is expanding along with my waistline.

In October we will be adding more testosterone to the mix and boy are we excited about it.

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

2014-04-13T16:44:00.001-06:00

Picture this. Gorgeous trees with light pink flowers. Beautiful tulips and daffodils in bloom. Amazing weather.

Of course I’m going to want to make Winter wear her sheep coat and take some pictures.

Winter, however knows when I want cute pictures and she plots and plans on how to make our photo shoots as painful as possible. Weird faces, crying, running away, being stubborn …. oh dear.

Our little wolf in sheep’s clothing … but seriously.

Mitchell and I took our first “hike” of the season. And when I say hike, I really mean a short trail with absolutely no kind of elevation change whatsoever.

Mitchell and I both agreed that we feel kind of weird without Winter.

It just doesn’t feel right when our little monster isn’t at our side.

Winter updates:

She loves when we sing primary songs to her

She loves pointing out letters of the alphabet in stores, on license plates, on t-shirts etc.

Petting horses is on her list of favorite things to do

She loves Elmo, Arthur and Curious George.

Shopping used to be fun until she decided that riding in the shopping cart was for babies.

She has developed a very fake and high pitched laugh

She says “sorry” about 3 bajillion times a day

favorite phrases:

“do ya hear dat?”

“what happened?” – she will throw her food on the floor and then innocently throw that question in my direction

“dood job”

“don’t like it”

And here is another fine example of how much Winter hates it when I break out my camera.

What a sass-a-frass.

whoopsies.

2014-01-18T21:09:00.001-07:00

Oh hey.

It’s been a while.

Whateves.

Cliff notes version of our lives … ready … set …. go.

(and yes, I am fully aware this post should be split into about nine separate posts … once again …. whateves.)

The ever so Lovely Ransoms came to visit this summer.

And seriously … when the heck did everyone grow up?

We spent some time up at Silver Lake with the Ransoms and the Church family

This is probably one of our very favorite pictures of Winter … ever.

We headed down to Cedar City in July for a weekend of camping and spending time with family

Had a rather hairy birthday party for my mom in August …

Had a wonderful wedding and introduced some more estrogen into the Hicken family in August.

Woot woot Max & Brittney.

Drove out to Denver in Sept to see our Fillmore side

Took in a little hike with the McKinnons and Melayna while we were there …

Watched Clara and Winter kinda sorta become friends …

Bought a new camera lens and tested it out on this loverly guy.

Sent these wonderful missionaries out into the mission field – the DC temple mission is lucky to have them.

Enjoyed the awesome fall weather …

Took some family photos in October ….

Had our annual Halloween Hicken party ….

Drove to Cedar City for Thanksgiving with the Hicken side …. and had some awesome pizza on the way.

Mitchell had a serious man crush on our pizza man and his dough tossing skills ….

And took pictures of this girl who can’t seem to keep a straight face anytime the camera comes out.

And celebrated one of the coldest weddings EVER …

Dan & Mara – thanks for getting married and all …. but no thanks for getting married in December.

Oh and two more pictures because there clearly were not enough pictures in this blog post.

And now some Winter videos for you viewing pleasure

the ONEder years

2013-07-01T10:28:00.001-06:00

This beautiful girl turned one.

The stats are in:

twenty one lbs fourteen oz (seventy fifth percentile)

thrity and one quarter inches (ninetieth percentile)

I honestly didn’t know quite what to expect when we discovered we were having a baby. I was excited, nervous and a little scared. Winter has taught us so much about love over this past year. I absolutely adore her. Life without her wouldn’t be the same. I think about all I have learned from her in just one year. I am incredibly excited for the coming years.

She is still a social butterfly to the extreme. She has numerous friends of all ages (ages ranging from one – ninety) at church. She does this adorable little “pageant wave” to everyone as she walks by. I had two people today ask me the trick to having such a happy baby.

She LOVES to walk and is getting really fast.

Her newest favorite foods are craisins, zucchini muffins, cantaloupe and honeydew.

She has growling wars with anyone who will play along. I think she sounds like an ewok and it melts my heart.

She makes Mitchell and I laugh everyday.

We attempted a little birthday photo shoot without much success. Getting her to sit still was quite the task. With some cheerios, we managed about thirty seconds worth of photos.

And then she was done.

eleven

2013-05-28T14:54:00.001-06:00

I must say, 11 months is probably my favorite yet.

But then again, I will probably say that about every new month milestone haha.

She is learning and absorbing so much.

She has been dealing with a killer cold this past week, along with getting her TWO bottom front teeth. So monthly photos did not happen this morning.

She loves opening and closing the kitchen cabinets. You better believe we bought some safety locks this weekend.

Winter is the center of attention when we go grocery shopping. And she looooves it. She knows how to flirt and people find it adorable.

Her preferred method of transportation is still crawling, but she has taken steps. She gets so proud of herself when she successfully takes three or more steps, it is the cutest thing ever.

Favorite food: black beans.

I have been quite busy taking other people’s photos this month and I have realized that most of my pictures of Winter as of late have been with my phone. That needs to change. It is pathetic.

viva las vegas

2013-05-09T19:41:00.001-06:00

We decided to exchange snowy Utah for warm Vegas last week. Mitchell had a work conference so Winter and I decided to tag along.

It was pretty obvious that we had never been on a road trip longer than a couple hours with Winter, because we had multiple diaper issues. Note to self: put Winter in night time diapers on lengthy drives. We are such noobs.

pee problems in the middle of the desert.

We made it to Vegas alive … not clean … but alive.

Winter fell madly in love with the curtains in our hotel room.

I was kinda creeped out our entire stay … I blame Stephen King.

She is such a cute little human.

gummy gums.

Mitchell was in meetings all day, leaving Winter and I to our lonesomes. The strip was calling our name … and we should have ignored it. I went to the strip about 8 years ago and it was not with a stroller. I didn’t realize that there would be soooo many stairs along the strip. So most of our time was spent finding elevators and getting lost.

It was dirty. It was hot. I’m not into porn. I don’t drink.

Like I said, we should have ignored the call.

Winter’s face says it all … we both felt the same. So we booked it out of there, but not before getting lost in New York New York. I will curse that casino till the day I die.

And just when I thought our pee problems were over .. this happened. Winter wet my pants for me. Yes, I deserve mother of the year. The last thing I was thinking about while on vacation was changing diapers. I must have unconsciously thought a vacation also meant a vacation from diaper changing. Wrongo. Not to mention this happened away from our room … and this picture does not do the damage any justice. My entire crotch (crotch is such an ugly word) was soaked. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas right?

We stopped to visit my brother and his family in Cedar City on our way home.

Lynn, my sister in law, wined and dined us. I didn’t take any pictures of the food she made, but man, it was good. If we ever get crazy rich I will hire her to cook for us. We had awesome cinnamon french toast,Vietnamese spring rolls, artichoke pesto sandwiches, king crab dip, spinach salad and awesome pie made with berries straight up from her home state of Alaska.

My brother has chickens. This was my first time ever holding one of these creatures.

It was semi scary.

We had to stop in Fillmore on our way home, naturally.

And look at this happy traveler’s face. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how happy Winter was during this trek. Great job Winter, great job.

she is a perfect ten

2013-05-06T10:21:00.001-06:00

10 months people. 10 months.

Winter has finally discovered how awesome food is these past couple of days. She would tolerate it and eat three or four bites of something and then be totally over it. But now she is actually eating and finishing meals, hallelujah. I was getting worried that we would be buying formula for the rest of her life (my milk dried up a few weeks ago … TMI? Perhaps) But you guys, after nine solid months I can say, I AM PUMP FREE! I am no longer a slave to the machine and its awwwwwwesome… except for the monthly formula bill. BARF.

Her favorite toys are: her beloved monkey and a tube of hydrocortisone cream.

She loves to imitate any kind of noises we make.

She can stand for long periods of time on her own but has yet to make a move in terms of walking.

Still no teeth.

Four generations (1928-2012)

This is How We Sushi Roll

2013-04-22T11:17:00.001-06:00

I have fallen head over heels in love with sushi this past year.

I had never really given sushi a fair chance. I had tasted it a couple times over the past five years, and it just tasted like swamp water. Mitchell talked me into going to a little sushi bar close to his office and since then I have been hooked. But, dang, those little rolls sure do cost a pretty penny. Mitchell and I would probably need to start selling organs on the black market in order to support my sushi needs. So we decided to try our very own sushi.

It turns out, Mitchell just may come from Japanese heritage.

We made 6 rolls with different combinations of cucumber, green onion, red pepper, carrot, avocado, imitation crab, cream cheese and jalapeno … topped with a little sriracha sauce, wasabi and soy sauce

NOM NOM NOM.

(do NOT attempt to eat sushi with any other kind of soy sauce besides Kikkoman … we tried and were terribly disappointed and made a special trip back to the store just to pick some up)

It was pretty good considering it was our first rodeo in the world of DIY sushi .

I’m calling it a success.

Spoiled Rotten

2013-04-09T09:53:00.001-06:00

You guys.

Life just got super cool.

Mitchell surprised me big time for my birthday this year. We have talked about getting one of these miracle machines for a loooong time.

Our family of three is now a family of four. This blender holds a special place in our hearts.

We have made awesome vegan ice cream, numerous delicious smoothies, hummus, salsa, and soup. We bought some peanuts over the weekend and I am beyond excited to make our own natural peanut butter. Every morning I make myself a “Dr Oz Green Juice” smoothie. Man, I love this blender.

Besides getting a blender for my birthday, I also received these happy faces …

My parents came home on Tuesday and Craig arrived Thursday. It was like they had never left. Quite the exciting week. I really was spoiled this year.

My parents and Craig had never met Chipotle before. So we felt the need to introduce them. They all liked each other and got along great.

Just look at those cute missionary dimples. Welcome home Craig.

I have to admit, I was a little down in the dumps about turning 28. I really don’t like getting older … but then Elder Packer chastised me this weekend and I have repented. Bring on 29.

silly rabbit

2013-04-03T17:57:00.001-06:00

We took Winter to her very first Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning. Let’s be honest, we did not go with the intention of collecting eggs to put into a basket for a nine month old … I find that rather ridiculous. But we did go with the intention of getting a picture with a creepy bunny the size of a man.

That rabbit had its paws all over Winter.

This picture kind of makes me a tiny little eensy weensie bit sad. Winter is soooo big.

Stop growing. Right! Now!

The Easter bunny did not visit Winter this year … and to be honest, I don’t really know if the Easter bunny will ever visit her in the future. Easter baskets are overrated anyway right? Ba humbug, I know.