Annika Turned 2 !!

Considering it's almost May, I thought I'd get caught up on my blog posts.  Starting with...

Annika's 2nd Birthday!

February 8, 2013

My baby is two.  Seriously crazy.  I'm having a hard time digesting the fact that I don't have a little baby anymore!  She is all personality - our little spitfire.  Mischievous?  Yes.  Malicious?  No.  Sweet as pie and cute through and through?  Absolutely.  Here's a peek at our little stink on her second birthday...

Good Morning!!  

The balloons are almost as cool as the presents.

Fisher Price's Little People are one of her very favorite things.  She loves the movies, the books, the toys, and the music.  (Anything Little People is super cool when you're two.)  

Slightly cooler than Little People... Monster's Inc. She LOVES Sully and Mike.  It's one of her favorite movies and for sure her favorite ride at Disneyland's California Adventure.  

I think her face says it all!

I struggled trying to pick a theme for her birthday party.  (She likes so many things equally.) So I decided that her theme should be, "These are a Few of My Favorite Things".  That way I could choose... everything!

Some of her favorite foods are: strawberries, GRAPES, apples, fishy crackers, juice boxes, and macaroni and cheese.  So we ate them all.  

Her favorite animal: the owl.  We can't pass by an owl at a store without her pointing and calling, "OWL!!  Hoo-hoot!!"  

So I made a bundt cake to look like a nest (using shredded wheat cereal) and put a ceramic owl piggy bank in the center.  

Grandaddy helping serve gourmet Kraft macaroni and cheese.

We never really need to invite friends to a party - not when you have a house full of cousins!!  

(Not pictured: Rosalie and James.  I think Rosalie was on the potty and James was cruising around - probably in my pantry.  He really likes it there.)

Annika must have sensed that the party was getting a bit dull.  So she thought it would be fun to pull her pants to her ankles and walk around like a penguin.  (Do not underestimate her.) 

Then when I said it was time to play games, she thought it would be better to hide in the cubby behind the couch until someone found her.  Unfortunately, I did not plan on hide-and-seek as one of our party games.  

Instead, we played a game I made up.  I called it, "These are a Few of My Favorite Things".  (Yes, a very intense and complicated game.)  I hid 10 tiny objects around the living room that represented 10 of Annika's favorite things.  Each cousin got to find one and bring it to Annika who was holding the collections basket.  Some of her favorite things included: a ball, a My Little Pony, Sully from Monster's Inc., a baby doll, Mini Mouse, a Barbie, a rubber duckie, etc...

But when Annika saw that she had an audience's attention, she wowed them by balancing the basket on her head instead of using it to play the game.  That's our Annika!  Oozing with personality :)

We finished her birthday party with a piñata.  Since Annika was first to take a turn, she wasn't sure what to do.  So she just poked it.  

It turned out to be an extremely strong piñata.  But we eventually got it open...

It was filled with M&M's (her favorite candy) and little toys.  

After that we sang, "Happy Birthday" and ate spice cake with cream cheese frosting.  She LOVES blowing out candles.  I think I let her do it twice.  

Silly glasses from the piñata provided fun for the whole family.

Once the masses had gone home, Annika got to her chores.  I let her since one of her favorite things is sweeping.  

Thanks, Annika, for being my little whirlwind.  I wouldn't have you any other way.   

Daddy Daughter Date

February 7, 2013

My kids attend Somerset Academy.  Somerset puts on an annual Daddy Daughter Dance each winter.  Natalya was so excited to participate!  She put on her favorite party dress and high heels and met daddy at the dance.   

They had a fabulous night!  Natalya said that they even danced "Gangnam Style".  Haha!  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that one.  

She looks SO grown up. 

When the dance was halfway over, Natalya said to her daddy, "This is the best night of my life."

This is a picture of them after the dance - home late and tired.  All that dancing made them hungry so daddy treated her to dinner on the way home.  A great way to end a great night.  :)

Dear Devon,

February 3, 2013

My nephew Devon recently left on a proselyting mission for our church.  He was called to serve the people of Lima, Peru.  He has already had a fantastic experience and loves spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.  My kids drew pictures for him that were included in a package he received after his arrival.

From Natalya, age 8:

Dear Devon, 

The Book of Mormon... is true.  I love you!  

Natalya Reeve 

From Branson, age 6:

Dear Devon, 

I hope you actually know how to say CTR [choose the right] in Spanish.  I will tell you, "Haz Lo Justo". 
Love, Branson 

From Irelynn, age 4:

I love you.  

Dear Devon, 

"I love to see the temple.  I'm going there someday!"  

Love, Irelynn 

From Annika, age 1, translated by mom:

Cousin Devon, 

I hope you like being a missionary!  Maybe I'll get to be a missionary one day too.  Guess what?!  I turn 2 this Friday!  When you get home I'll be almost 4.  

I love you, Annika

I heard he loved getting the letters - and it was a good experience for my kids to write to him.  

Aunt Jackie

February 2, 2013

My Aunt Jackie passed away just two weeks after discovering she had stage four cancer.  We were all shocked.  She had such a vibrant personality and seemed so healthy and sharp - it was hard to swallow. Yet I couldn't help but imagine the wonderful reunion she's having with her sweet husband on the other side.  Uncle Mel died just two years ago.  I think he missed her and asked the Lord to let her come home too.  

My parents and I drove to Utah for her funeral.  It was a bittersweet reunion.  I enjoyed seeing all my cousins, but wished it had been under different circumstances.  

Here we are at her burial.  It was a beautiful day.

They had 5 sons and 1 daughter.  My cousin Christie put on pink lipstick and kissed her casket right before it was lowered into the ground.  It was so sweet.   

All the grandkids let a balloon go in her honor.

Aunt Jackie was buried next to her husband, my Uncle Mel.   (Here's my dad pictured next to his brother's grave.)

I loved seeing my cousin Brittany and her new son Hyrum.  Sometimes tragic times bring about great reunions.  

I'll miss you Aunt Jackie!  I love you!  

I can almost hear her saying, Love you back.  

January in a Nutshell

January 2013

In effort to keep up with this family journal, I thought I'd dump a bunch of photos in a single post to encapsulate all of January.

Here we go-

 Annika kept giving everyone high-5's with my oven mitts on.

 

Annika's favorite hide-and-seek place is the strange cubby behind the couch.

Annika loves getting in her brother's bed and sometimes fakes being asleep in effort to avoid going to her crib.  

 But they can never stay serious for very long :)

I couldn't resist taking this picture.  Branson loves Mario Kart and the girls love to watch him in action.  

Oh, Annika.  When I saw her chocolaty face, I ran to the pantry and found the remnants of Hershey Kisses all over the pantry floor.

    

What's more fun than walking around blindly with a cardboard box on your head?  Leave it to Annika to find joy in the simplest things.

Family Home Evening

I seriously love having family in town.  We had the Taylor's over for FHE one night.  We did the lesson, they did the treat.  

My mom, Auntie Lilah, and my sister Ellen joined us too!  It was a pleasant surprise.  My mom had been hospitalized for pneumonia and they drove up from California to visit her.  The night we were scheduled to do FHE with the Taylor's, my mom was released from the hospital.  So we invited them to join us.  They were in for a treat... 9 kids and very high ceilings.  It was loud.  But fun. 

I read the Book of Mormon story of Captain Moroni as he led his 2,000 stripling warriors into battle.  We armed Zachary with the full armor of God - complete with the shield of faith, sword of the spirit and helmet of salvation.  We learned that we can be like Captain Moroni as we find protection in righteousness.  We also talked about how we can put on our own spiritual armor every day to shield us from the "fiery darts of the wicked".  

Then we let the other children throw their "fiery darts" (marshmallows) at Zachary as he protected himself.  

Since they've moved here, we get together regularly.  Whether it's Sunday dinner, FHE, or a movie and popcorn night, we so enjoy spending time with the cousins. 

Paradise, CA

December 26th - 30th, 2012

The day after Christmas we loaded up the car and traveled 11 and 1/2 hours to Paradise, California!  Grandad and Granny Kim had outdone themselves with 4 days of fun for everyone.  I wish I took more pictures.  They rented out a whole movie theater for our family (nearly 50 people!) where we watched Elf.  They had a big family picture scheduled for early one morning - it was a miracle everyone made it on time with their kids dressed and their hair and make-up done.  They also rented out their local roller rink and we skated for a couple hours and had pizza - that was easily my kids' favorite activity on the trip.  And Granny Kim even put on a little girl's dance class, complete with tutus and leg warmers!  My favorite part was when we put our kids down for the night and the adults got to have an auction where we used tickets to buy some awesome gifts.  So fun!

The only unfortunate part of the trip is that 19 out of 46 of us got the stomach flu and were vomiting by day 3.  Yuck.  Having said that, we still had a great time for the first 3 days! :)

I'm embarrassed to say that during the trip I only stopped to take pictures of the dance class.  So on the last day (just an hour before we went home) I ran around and took most of the pictures you see below.

We traveled a looong way away from the desert!  I can understand why they named this town Paradise.  The greenery was breathtaking.

They recently repainted the exterior of their house.  

I think I recall Brian telling me how he helped his dad landscape his backyard.  In fact, I've seen pictures of it in the process.  It's hard to find a yard like this in Las Vegas!

They built a serious playhouse for their many, many grandkids to enjoy.  The Grand Kiddle Inn was used by most of the 4 year old girls again and again.  

Due to the shear numbers of a group our size, not all of us could fit in the house.  So Angie's family and our family had our own RVs.  My kids thought it was the best camping ever!  They thought it was like having our own little house.  All 6 of us slept comfortably...

Annika was still able to manage some mischief while we were there.  But lucky for her, there were enough little kids there her age that it didn't seem out of the ordinary.  

Dance class was darling.  Kim and Kendra had them doing the hokey pokey, balancing on the beam, skipping, playing, and stretching.  They were lovely little butterfly fairies!

The Hospital Ward

Here's a peek at day 3 in the house.  Lots of fevers, vomit, diarrhea, and buckets.  The healthy ones took care of the sickies.  

Despite the rough ending, we truly enjoyed the rest of the trip.  

Thank you for everything!!