Grown-Up Camping

 At the beginning of June, we headed for St. George to finish off some of Nate's holidays before they expired. My mom was nice enough to take the girls for two nights so Nate and I could get some actual relaxation time. It. Was. Awesome. We headed up Pine Valley Mountain to escape the heat, stayed in a tent, ate delicious tinfoil dinners, played Yahtzee, took naps in hammoks, read, went on small hikes, and basically were just kid free.

Here we are, sad. Not because we're about to see our children, of course that was going to happen eventually. We're sad because we had to leave our awesome "tent only" camp site.

First Year

Oh my sweet little Whitney, I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! It has truly been the fastest of my entire life. When I look back on what I was doing one year ago tonight, I can't believe how much joy you've brought me in these months. I remember holding you, not as scared as I was with Rachael, but just being in that hospital bed, staring at you. When you were under the bili-lights, it was killing me to not be able to hold you. Even now, all I want to do is hold you and cuddle you. You, of course, are a wiggly little one year old and won't be held for anything! If I'm ever having a bad day, truly, all I need to do is look at your big smile and it gives me a relief from my problems for that moment, and that is so precious to me. You are already such a determined little girl. Crawling before you turned six months old, walking before a year, you amaze me. Every time you get up to walk, you're so wobbly and crazy, and almost always fall on your little bum. But every time, without fail, you get yourself back up and keep right on walking because that's what you want to be doing. Always be like that, baby girl, always get back up no matter what happens. I hope you know how much your daddy and I love you. We're constantly running to get the camera to try and get video of you talking to us, or to catch how your eyes light up whenever daddy enters the room and you say, "Dah-dah!" and look at me like he's the most amazing person you've ever seen. When I was pregnant with you, I remember being so scared that I wouldn't be able to show you as much love as I was able to show Rachael, but now I just get to shower my love on the two most gorgeous girls Heavenly Father has ever placed upon this earth. How did I get so lucky? I pray I can be everything you need in a Mother. I love every little piece of you and just want you to stay my happy angel baby forever! But, as much as I want that, I am so excited to see you grow and learn and become your own self. I love you, little Miss Whit, more than I can ever express.

Squeelies

 

We were driving to Pizza Hut for dinner last night, and this is what the girls did the whole way there. I pulled out my phone and Nate said, "You're going to make a noise and they're going to stop." I married a psychic because that's exactly what happened. BUT! After a little prompting from me, they picked their game back up, and I got a good snippit of it. Love my babes! And you may notice that Whitney is no longer in her infant carseat. I was hesitant to turn her around in her bigger seat because Rachael was turned around at this age, Whit just seems so much tinier (?) to me. Well, she's more safe rear facing, plus they play with each other so we'll keep this up as long as possible!

Also note the teensy little pony tail Whitney is rockin'. A momentous day in a little girl's life. (The rubber band slipped out about an hour later...)

FIVE YEARS!

Forgive me for my neglect in not posting on this momentous occasion earlier. Nate and I recently celebrated our five year anniversary, woot woot! I can't believe its been that long, time FLIES! Allow me to brag about our marriage for a minute, won't you?

1. Nate and I work extremely well together. We never have disagreements for very long, we're talking 10 minutes max. For reals.
2. Nate and I never fight. Disagreements, sure (see above), but fights? Nope.
3. People always say how the first few years of marriage are "hard." Negatory. We have always found marriage to be simple. Put the other person's happiness first and don't whine about dumb stuff, not too tough.
4. We've got big plans for our future. Who knows if they'll come to pass, but we're planning an awesome life!
5. We support each others parenting choices. Ok, in front of the girls (aka Rachael) we support, and we discuss later. Our kids need to know we're on the same team and if mom says no, dad says no, and vice versa.
6. Nate is accepting that our home doesn't look perfect when he gets home, and that sometimes dinner isn't ready. And I accept that his work hours are freaking ridiculous!
7. We both believe firmly that I need to be home for our children. We've both had confirmation that if I'm home with our children and not working in a career, we will always have enough. (As long as we're living within our means.)
8. We are both frugal, not cheap. (Disclaimer: Now that we actually have an income, though its not much, its more than what it was in the past. Nothing. So if I want to buy some new kitchen towels, guess what, I'm gonna get some.)
9. We both know the other is not perfect, but we're not constantly trying to change the other person. (Example: When Nate is drinking something delicious, pop, juice, what have you, he is L.O.U.D. I've accepted it, and don't try to get him to stop. Tease him about it? You bet.)
10. We love each other and our little family more than anything!

For our anniversary this year, we did a babysitting swap with some friends, so Nate and I went car shopping and test drove a few cars. (I was hoping we'd get one, but no such luck... yet.) Then we went out to dinner. It may sound lame, and maybe it was for a five year celebration. Once my mom is done working for the year, we're planning on having a little camping get away once I'm done nursing the babe. (We also tossed around the idea of going on a cheap cruise since we live so close to the ports, but we're saving up for a Thailand trip, possibly later this year, woot woot!) Love you, Naterbug! I'm looking forward to Eternity with you!

(P.S. I tried to upload a section of our wedding video for your viewing pleasure, but it wouldn't work. Lame-o.)

EARTHQUAKE!!

I have just experienced my first earthquake! Literally, it was less that five minutes ago, but I've decided to document this occasion. It was pretty small, only lasted maybe five seconds, but my legs felt like jell-o after, I was so scared. At first I thought our downstairs neighbors just slammed their door really hard, but then it kept shaking. YIPES! I went to check on Rachael in the living room (Whit slept right through it.). She looked at me and said, "WOAH!... My turn!" Then proceeded to jump up and down, shaking the apartment a fair amount for such a small person. According to earthquake.usgs.gov, the earthquake was a 3.9 magnitude. One thing I was PETRIFIED of when we moved here to California was the earthquakes. Luckily this was my first, I'm sure it won't be my last, but I'm feeling the need to get more emergency preparedness stuff. We don't have the space for three months of food storage (excuses, excuses, I know...), but I'm going to work on getting us four little 72 hour kits. For reals. The thing I hate about earthquakes is their unpredictability. You never know when one is gonna hit.

bye-bye

Nate taught Whitney how to wave "bye-bye" while I was at my Relief Society meeting tonight. I didn't catch the best video of it, but let me tell you, it is one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. I am one proud mamma.

Epiphany

Today I had an epiphany. So there I was, standing at the sink doing the dishes, listening to Rachael say, "Mom, mom, mom! Hum ear!" (come here) in the living room. I had just wrapped her in a blanket like a burrito and thought she'd be content to just lay there for a few minutes, seeing as how she really loves tight, dark, enclosed spaces. (For real. Under a laundry basket covered with a blanket is her favorite.) My immediate thought was, "Can't you just let me get something done for five seconds?"
And then I started thinking down the road about, say, 11 years, when Rachael is almost 15. She'll be well into her teen years (and gorgeous, I might add...) and probably won't want me anywhere near her. But I'll want so badly for her to say, "Mom, come here, let me talk to you."
Isn't that crazy how life turns around? One second I just want my kids to leave me alone for a bit, but in a few years time they'll want ME to leave THEM alone!
How frustrating it is to be a parent!
(P.S. I definitely stopped doing the dishes, went and wrapped my little girl even tighter, jostled her around, and made up crazy monster songs. She giggled and laughed, and I loved it.)