Florida Sunshine

6 months yeah!

Anne one week old 4 lbs. 11 oz.  17.5 ich.

Anne 6 months old, laying next to the purple outfit above

15.4 lbs. and 25.5 inch.

One week old

6 months old

A few weeks ago I was holding Anne at church. A man

leaned over and asked me, "Is that what a miracle 

looks like?"  Without hesitation I said emphatically, "YES!"

She is our beautiful miracle.  I can't believe how much she

has grown, how quickly she has learned and what joy she

brings to us daily. She truly is our miracle!! 

From her early start (seven wks early) she was a miracle.

From the moment my water broke, all that I cared 

about was that she was okay. I will never be able to put 

into words the joy and relief I felt when our Dr. asked

if I wanted to see her. He lifted her up over the curtain

(i had and emergency c-section) and I saw her for the first

time. She was screaming and I was so glad that she was

breathing. Truly a miracle. She hasn't had any problems,

any lasting health concerns. She is an absolute angel, the joy

of our lives. Scott never worried about her. He knew 

everything would work out. Maybe, he has more faith then

I do, but I worried for her, only as a mother can.  When

she was in the NICU for 20 days I thought we would

never be able to be home. The future wasn't even in my 

mind, I only cared that she was breathing. Those 20 days

seemed to be forever and now looking back, they were

only a moment. At first I almost felt terrified to hold her,

and now I walk in the room and she squeals with delight, 

wagging her hands and arms at me, smiling her big 

toothless grin, wanting me to pick her up.  

Anne means = Grace of God.

I have felt His Grace, each moment with her: 

every prayer, every cry, kiss, smile, laugh, tickle.

Each day a gift. 

She is the cutest baby in town.  Sunday is a great day because she wears cute dresses.

Anne loves her food.  She is still learning how to swallow instead of pushing it out of her mouth with her tongue.

This was on Feb. 19. She is learning how to talk. 

She is learning new tricks all of the time.  She is growing up so fast.

posted by a very proud daddy

Fire

Last night I ran to the store for some milk.  As I turned on my street heading home, I was shocked to see fire trucks, flashing lights and firemen. I was instantly concerned for our friends and neighbors in the building next to ours. You could smell electricity in the air and a hint of smoke. The power was out in the two buildings down from us. A moving truck had hit the power lines and caused a power surge, and hot spots broke out in the apartments. Thankfully everyone was safe. 

One of the apartments in the basement started flooding because their water heater was the direction that the electricity went needing to be grounded. Yikes! They were going to be moving today anyway, so their house was full of boxes. Almost immediately the Elder's quorum was in action. Moving all of their possessions out. While they were moving things out smoke started coming from the basement ceiling and raising quickly through the upstairs floor. The men continued to work as quickly as possible (some wonderful women too). 

I got nervous watching as the smoke started pouring out of the doors. Especially when I watched, Scott and a few others continue to pull out things from the apartments entering the smoke until the firemen wouldn't allow them back in. Luckily, the firemen were able to contain the movement of the fires and nothing was really burned. But the apartments were torn apart.  

As I watched the acceleration of the smoke billowing out, I wondered if we were in danger of being evacuated. I thought quickly about what I would take. My first thoughts were only of Anne and Scott. Nothing mattered more to me than their safety. Then I thought of things that Anne would need, blankets a few clothes. Then I thought of our computer that is filled with pictures, then my journals. What would you take? 

In a way I felt completely helpless. It was really cold outside and Anne was ready for bed. I sat in my house rocking her to sleep while Scott and a few others brought in some of our neighbor's important possessions: family pictures and computer towers. I so badly wanted to go out and hug my neighbors while they watched from the church across they street. How would I feel if it was my apartment going up in smoke?Would I cry? But I had to stay and care for my baby while everything was moving outside. 

 It made me very grateful for several things. One was for the organization of the church. In minutes the men in our ward were gathered, large trucks and trailers assembled to help move our neighbors out of their apartment. These everyday dads and men you see at church became heros.  At one point during the night I looked out my window and saw a band of these men marching forward together with purposeful expressions on their faces. The elders quorum pres. in the front, as if leading them to battle. In my mind I pictured him leading them to battle sword in hand, the title of liberty waving, prepared to protect the families and homes of our ward.  Yes, I am a little dramatic, but seeing this brought tears to my eyes. It made me grateful for the priesthood brethren and for their heroics of everyday life. I saw these simple wonderful men taking care of a crisis with dedication, smiles on their faces and a willingness to do all that was required.  

It made me want to thank my hero, my own strippling warrior for the small and the large things he does for us daily. Things like waking up early to scrape everyone's sidewalks and dust them with ice melt, for getting ready in the morning with only the bathroom light glowing into our room so I can still sleep, for eating a bowl of oatmeal nearly every morning because he doesn't want to wake me knowing I was up with the baby; for taking out the garbage, putting gas in the car, and loving me. 

Also, I was grateful for the women who I knew were inside the church caring for the families now without homes. Beautiful! 

I was also grateful for skilled firemen and others who helped.  They were great! And now I am grateful for the experience, the emotions, gratitude, and etc. 

When Scott finally came in, after it was finished, around midnight, he was tired but so happy to have served. He continued his thoughtfulness about me; knowing that I am definitely a worrier, he made sure that I was okay before he threw his smoky clothes into the washer and got ready for bed. WOW!! We are all so blessed. What a sad night but good at the same time. We have much to be grateful for! Our prayers and thoughts to go our friends who have lost their home and some of their things to smoke damage. We are so glad that you are safe!

Time flies when you're having fun!

this is what happens when I leave to go to Wal-Mart 

for a 1/2 hour.  When mommy is away, 

daddy and the baby will play. 

Can you say... a little too much stimuli.

last week Scott came up with a fun idea for our date. 

We went to the store and had to find the entire alphabet 

for as cheep as possible. using only the brand 

name and flavor of the product. 

We found it for only $2.51

Kind of silly but it was super fun!

Happy 5 months last week!! Whaahooo!

I haven't felt much like blogging the 

last few weeks. But we are grrrreat!

We spent the last weekend with Scott's family.

We visited his grandma Fillmore and took

some four generation pictures. She is such a hoot.

Mostly we have been singing, laughing, learning 

new tricks, trying to sit-up, growing and growing!

Anne thinks that she must hold conversations while

she is eating, especially if anyone else in the room

is talking.  She refuses to be left out!  She thinks

that her mommy and daddy are pretty funny.

And she has the lower pouty lip trick down to an 

art. She never really cries, she just screams really

high pitched until she get what she wants...oh, great!

I am glad that she is not a crier, but I may experience

early hearing loss. Really she is a sweetheart who is

always happy. We can't believe that five months have

past so quickly. Anne and I are now "mall walkers"! 

I go walking in the morning with my mom and since

we live in good'ol Idaho we have no choice but to 

walk indoors. But really it's like an obstacle course;

weaving in and out of all the old folks. It is 2.5 miles

if you walk 4x around the mall. Who knew?  Besides

one crazy fast lady we are the fastest "mall walkers"

in town. Anne loves to ride in her stroller.

Happy New Year!

We celebrated our 6 year Anniversary on

Sunday, Dec. 28th

And this year we celebrated by blessing our

beautiful Anne. It's a good thing to 

because she was getting too big for the 

blessing dress that I made for her.

We are so grateful for the past 6 years.

Scott is the best decision that I have ever 

made; he continues to surprise me with 

enduring love. I love you will all my heart,

Scott!!! Thank you for the most wonderful

6 years of our lives.  Eternity is the only

time long enough to be together!

It was so fitting to have Anne blessed

on our special day! 

She is beautiful! We decided

sort of quickly to have her blessed

that day. Some of Scott's family was 

going to be able to come on their

way home from Christmas vacation so 

we just did it! We wanted to invite so

many other people. We didn't end up

inviting any friends. Sorry friends.

We love you so much! But the weather was 

so terrible we didn't want anyone to 

risk coming. Please, don't be sad. 

This is Anne's name sake, her middle

name is after my beautiful Grammie.

We got soooo much snow for Christmas,

it was sooo much fun! Here is Scott and my little 

Sis. having a snow boulder fight.

Merry Christmas!

Anne was a fantastic baby Jesus!

Except for the times that she wanted to be

eating, like when Mary (me) was supposed

to be conversing with the angel. oh, well

we hid her under my garb. 

This is a four generation picture with 

my Grandma and mom. So special!

I never met any of my great grandparents.

Christmas morning was fun! Anne

got a lot of fun new toys. But all the  

excitement tired  her out! 

My awesome mom made all of us 

girls Christmas PJs. 

This is Christmas morning

without much sleep. Yikes don't look too closely.

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas,

and that your 2009 will be the best year ever.

Thankful

Anne loves to look at her books with her daddy.

Hooray, Anne's first Christmas pjs, that probably 

wont fit her by Christmas. But they are super cute.

This Sunday was Anne's first time at church. The dr. wants us 

to keep her away from crowds of people during the winter

because of flu season. But we wanted to go to church as 

a family. I have really missed going to church it was so

wonderful to sit as a family. She slept through the whole

meeting and only peeked her eyes open during the 

singing. The organ was really loud.  

Thank goodness for my mom being close, Anne and 

I escape to her house about once a week to play.

I don't think Grandma minds a all.  We've sewed

her blessing dress and our Christmas stockings during

 our get-a-ways. It is so wonderful to have her close.

I was planing on writing a Thanksgiving blog but didn't have

time before we left for Thanksgiving. 

We have been so abundantly blessed! I am soo grateful to

our Heavenly Father for His tender mercies! 

Going through the year:

January: for the amazing amounts of snow!

February: for the answer to thousands of

prayers over five years, we were able to be pregnant

March: so grateful for a great couch to crash on pregnancy = tired!

April: for a fun trip to Wyoming, job hunting and

for the guidance of the Holy Ghost, although

we didn't understand we followed and are

 so grateful for the job found in Rexburg it 

has been a huge blessing.

May: for fun together and for the first

pictures of our baby

June: sharing our time with a few nephews 

who came to work on Scott's landscaping crew 

and for a starting a super fun series of books

that made the time pass quickly

July: four family reunions....whew! We 

are so grateful for Eternal families and the wonderful

relationships that we have with all of our family.

August: my brother getting married and again

for a comfy couch to crash on.

September: for absolute MIRACLES!!

For our beautiful daughter, Anne

for amazing hospital staff, wonderful doctor,

for feeding tubes, incubators, NICU, for my amazing

family who cared for our every need!! For my amazing

rock of a husband who held me up through all of the craziness!!

For perfect timing, divine intervention, for an amazing body 

that knows how to heal, care for itself and create nutrients 

for our baby. Truly amazing! For prayer of family and friends.

For a baby shower that supplied us basically for Anne's

entire first year! Mostly for a loving Savior, who's arms

I felt around me in our time of need! For the gift of prayer,

for the gift of the scriptures, for blessings, for peace, for

love, for patience, and so many other things my heart

cannot put into words.

October: for being able to bring our baby home! For

family to visit us and give us support, for continued answered prayers.

For Anne being able to transition from, tubal feedings-to bottle

and now being able to nurse.  For her weight gain and my loss.

For the joys and happiness of being in our own home together.

For the spud harvest break and my hubby being home for 2 1/2 

weeks with us!  And days with my sweet mother in law.

November: For continued answered prayers, for first smiles,

rolling over, tonz of diapers, first shots,Thanksgiving break.

December: lots of happy smiles and coos, still lots of diapers,

for Christmas lights, decorations, beautiful music, first date with

my hubby since Anne was born, a dozen red roses. The birth

 of our Savior and the focus of the season. For family togetherness,

happy memories. And soon to be the 6 year anniversary of

Scott and I being married! Halleluia  for ever for that!