10 months :(

Oh my goodness. Time flies. It is so so sad to me. I try to soak up this little girl because she will NOT stop growing...darn her! Our lives are beyond hectic right now. More on that in a minute. For now, a little scoop about this darling girls 10th month.

-She waves bye-bye. Typically before bed or naps she will wave b-bye to anyone who is nearby. She will wave bye to Brian when he leaves for work in the morning. Sometimes, I sit her in front of the window and let her wave to him as he backs out of the driveway.

-She started clapping. I worked with her on this one too. I would say, Yay, and clap my hands and then clap her hands for her. One afternoon she was sitting on the kitchen floor and just started clapping. They were slow deliberate claps and she looks beyond proud. She expects if she starts clapping for everyone to join in. One time during family prayer, she was looking around at all of us and wanting our attention so she started clapping and wanted us all to join in. I have a video that I sent to Brian when she did it. I will have to see if I can upload it.

-At 10 and a half months, our little girl decided she was done in the crawling business and took off walking. Now she rarely crawls. Even if she has a short way to go, she pulls herself into standing and takes off. It took her a few days to get pretty proficient at it. During those two days she got soooo many bumps, bruises, and scratches on her face from falling into things. She looks seriously beat up. It only a took a few days and she really has the balance down much better and doesn't fall nearly as often. Why do I get the early walkers. :(

-She loves to make sounds (high pitched, screams, low pitch, growls) and loves to have them repeated by someone. It often becomes a game. Got to get that one on video.

-She knows I don't like her crawling up the stairs but has a built in radar that knows if the gate isn't up and heads straight there. Sometimes she will turn around and see if I'm watching and tries to take off as fast as she can, smiling and giggling. So adorable.

-Still has major stranger danger. Does not want to be held by anyone but mom or dad. This made her 10 month pictures at JCPenney just a bunch of pleasant looks but no smiles. People love to talk to her wherever we go and she very rarely will smile at them.

-She hates the car. She was doing better for a while there. Now we are back to either full on crying or just constant whining while in the car.

-She is a terrible, terrible teether. My worst by far. Super painful for her and totally throws off what little schedule she has.

-She adores nursing. She is super attached which causes me serious anxiety as I'm supposed to wean her fairly soon so that I can have my radiation treatments.

-She loves green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed up bananas and marshmallows. She also loves to share most anything we are having for dinner. She isn't so big on crackers or snacky foods.

-She hates me digging stuff out of her mouth that shouldn't be there, so no I just put my hand by her mouth and say yuck yuck and she spits out whatever she has in there. :)

-Her kisses have pretty much gone extinct. If you ask for one she just reaches out and pushes your face away.

We all still adore her and I'm pretty sure none of us can imagine life without her. She has us all wrapped around her little finger. If only I could either find a way to stop time or turn back time, so that I could soak up her babyness over and over again.

Brief update on our lives right now. After a tremendous amount of stress and back and forth, things fell into place for us to transfer to the gunnison prison. This will hopefully allow us to get our student loans paid off. It's been amazing to watch it all fall into place for us and we can't help but think that we've had a little help getting this to pull through. We needed to apply for the loan repayment by mid March or we would have to wait an entire year. Brian was working with his boss trying to get something to work out and stress was high. One day it would look promising. Two days later it would look impossible. Suddenly one of the two therapists out there announced he was quitting. Then it looked like it was ours. Then we found out they had to solicit interest in the position. More back and forth. Brian and I had serious ulcers. Finally last week it was finalized and our start date is February 18th. We struggled in the housing department. The market is a buyers market down there, but no one is able to sell. We didn't want to be stuck there after our commitment was over if we didn't want to be stuck. There are hardly any rentals. None of the rentals we looked at were working for one reason or another. We weren't being overly picky I don't think. They just wouldn't work out. Then one of the ladies mentioned her neighbor was also considering renting. We happened to be down there looking the last day that they were there before they moved to Texas so we were able to meet them in person and make a positive impression. They hadn't posted it for rent anywhere yet so no one else knew about it. Problem was they were asking more than we wanted to pay. We figured we had nothing to lose and asked if they would consider lowering rent and they knocked it down $200 making it suddenly doable. We have two incredibly excited kids. Those are just a few of the things that have fallen into place for us. Thats not to say we aren't totally shaking in our boots and scared to death about turning our lives upside down. There have been lots of hurdles (like two bouts of the stomach flu) and things haven't always gone smoothly, but both Brian and I have had moments of reassurance that this is the right move for our family right now and we are feeling pretty darn blessed...and scared. :) More later. Gotta pack.

Christmas 2013

Christmas was one of the best in my memory. It was so fun to have a baby again. A baby who is more interested in the paper and the packaging than anything she got. I love that. The kids were super excited and cute. I had a special surprise for Brian this year that I was excited to give him and unbeknownst to me Brian had a HUGE surprise for me. It was the first time I have ever got a surprise this big and it was AWESOME!

 Christmas Eve was spent at the Droubays in Brigham. It was fun to be up there for the day visiting. We got home and had the kids open their jammies. Adin got very appropriate Mario jammies. I made Meg's pants this year. I had the darndest time finding anything cute in her size. It was late when I took this picture and Gracie was done. We left cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and it was off to bed.

 We made the kids promise not to come up till 7...6:45 at the earliest. It was 6:45. :)

 Stocking success! Adin wished for a DS game from Santa. He sent his letter off pretty late this year, but was super excited when he got a response in the mail from Santa. He got a new Knex set, a marble run, a HotWheels track, a lego set, a bow and arrow set, another DS game, and a pirate alarm clock. The family got a Wii this year and Adin, of course, is obsessed with that.

 And not sure what that means. This was the first year Meg was in the know. She was just getting to darn inquisitive and we worried that her constant questions would start to ruin it for the younger ones. She was the perfect helper and likes to feel like she is in on it was the older people. She surprised us this year by asking for a lot of toys. For a couple years now, she hasn't been that into any toys and has been more interested in crafts and art supplies. She got a Owl family with a store and a house (similar to calico critters), some littlest petshop, a sewing/craft kit, a big time rush CD, a bow and arrow set, a lego set and a zelf.

 The kids were spoiled and loved helping Gracie with her couple presents. She got a musical piano and this fisher price vanity. She also got a toy boat for the bath and a stuffed animal that has a light and music.

Brian got me the cutest jammies ever. Two of the cutest outfits ever and some cute shoes. I was feeling pretty spoiled. Then, he pulled out a fairly large box right at the end. I opened it having no idea what he could have possibly got. The first thing I saw was the word Nikon. OH.MY.HECK!!!! I have wanted and SLR camera for years, but lately I have wanted one desperately. I decided to start saving for one, but figured it would take quite a few years. Brian picked up a coworkers shift earlier in the month saying that he wanted to use the money to get something special for the kids. Since he did that last year, I thought that was totally normal. After the van fiasco, I figured his plans had changed because he didn't talk about it anymore and I assumed he planned to use the money for the van. Yes, I cried when I opened it. I am so over the moon happy about it. I used my money to buy a carrying case and a book to teach me how to use it. Just on the auto settings it's taking far better pictures than any other camera we have ever owned. So happy! Back before the car fiasco when I heard Brian was planning on using his extra shift money to do something for the kids, I thought how noone ever does anything special for him. I used some money I had tucked away for a rainy day and got him some new RayBan sunglasses. He was totally surprised and loved them. He looks kind of hot in them. :) 

I loved Christmas day this year. I just felt a lightness and a contentment the whole day. I felt so grateful for our little family. I felt so surprised and blessed by Brian's gift to me. It was a peaceful day. The kids kept busy the entire day with all their new things. We didn't go anywhere. I made my first turkey ever and we had a special Christmas dinner. I think that will become a tradition. It was just the most perfect Christmas day yet. 

December activities

December is chuck full of fun events. I love love it. This year whizzed by. We tried to fit in as much as we could but most of our activities were all smushed together because it was getting to Chritmas and we realized we hadn't done much. Here is a picture blog of how it went.

 The kids Christmas program. Always super fun. I love how proud the kids get about it. Adin is very into it as he always has been. I got full video of this event.

 Meg is always a little more timid and hesitant, but knows all the songs and does great.

 A last minute sledding session. Brian went with the kids for a couples hours.

I couldn't resist showing up with Grace towards the end so she could have her first sledding experience.

 The kids were quite the daredevils. Thank goodness they have their dad to stay for hours with them because I was freezing within a few short minutes and ready to go.

 Still smiling.

I wish you could see their faces better in this one.  It was hilarious. They tried to fit all three of them on the sled. It was a pretty immediate crash. Hilarious, I tell you.

Temple Square was a bust this year. As you can see by the date on the picture we went on the 23rd because we had put it off so long. It was SO packed that you literally couldn't move and you literally could not enjoy it. Brian took the older two to the top of the Joseph Smith Building (I think thats what it is called. 

Gracies December was super mobile. She's nearly walking and loved to play with the tree and try to open presents. We ran out of time to do our traditional graham cracker houses, but I did buy the supplies. It will be mid January before we do it, but at least it will get done. Stay tuned for that.

Christmas Parties 2013

 Due to some family conflicts, parties were moved around this year and ended up on the exact same weekend. The week leading up to the parties was absolutely crazy. A week and a few days before the van went kapoot. I was driving home from taking kids to school in the morning. I pulled up to a stop light and I was in front. The light turned green, I pushed the gas pedal and the car didn't go forward. Thankfully I was on a hill and able to roll through the light and somewhat into a safe area. Sarah was in the process of moving, but was down in Salt Lake to clean her apartment. That was a huge blessing. She was able to come get me and let us use her Durango for a tow. Brian headed home from work to help me get the van to the mechanics. After discovering we would have to pay our deductible to have it towed we decided to do it ourselves. YIKES! Brian borrowed a tow rope from his boss and we attempted to get it hooked to the van. We had never done anything like that before. At the very first light, I started to quickly and yanked the tow rope off leaving Brian stranded on a very busy road. I tried to flip around to help him. He started pushing the van off the road while stearing. Yeah, he's tough like that. While he was doing that, I van stopped. We assumed to help. Nope. Classic. A guy got out of the van, looked at us, took our tow rope out of the road and took off. Whaaat!? Who does that? After buying a new tow rope and discovering a few tricks of the trade we navigated towing a car through extremely busy roads in Salt Lake. It was so stressful. Add Gracie having to spend a few hours in the car while we did all this and ultimately screaming her lungs out for a good hour and you have a nightmare. It ended up being the transmission. Of all things. Two weeks before Christmas. Grrr. We opted to repair it to the tune of $3600. We didn't want a car payment  when that would eliminate our ability to save for a down payment on a house. Anyways, I thought that was a fun story to record. Welllll, we were promised the car back by the latest on the Friday before these parties.That didn't happen. Guilt trips were given to the mechnics. Big guilt trips. After driving Brian to and from work everyday DURING rush hour I was done with the Mazda and done with one car. Unfortunately, we headed off in the Mazda with overnight stuff, portacrib, food assignments, gifts for not one but two parties, AND five people.

We all love the Droubay party. Wendell and Kathy always work hard to have something meaningful. The white elephant game is always a highlight. This year we brought "poo-puori".

We stayed in Brigham overnight so that we didn't have to travel that direction and back twice in one weekend. Gracie didn't do too bad in the portacrib which was a relief. After church in Brigham we headed up to Logan. This year's party was super fun. Charisse had some really fun games planned.

This picture cracks me up. I took one right before this one and said, "oops you closed your eyes Kallie." Somehow she only heard, "close your eyes Kallie". So, for my next picture she obediently closed her eyes. She must have thought I was crazy telling her to close her eyes for a picture.

All the boys, but McKay.

Sarah was attempting to the show the kids a dance game on the xbox kinect. Classic.

So glad my older kids have cousins that are close to their age!

This may be the last year for the Marchant Christmas party. Just a couple days ago Charisse and Kory got word that Kory got a promotion and they will be moving to Pocatello, Idaho. We are in the midst of trying to move to Gunnison. That puts us a good 5 1/2 hoursish away from each other. That makes it awfully hard to have a party. We'll see. Next, a little bit of our Christmas celebrations for the year.