Snow/Mud/Rain = Utah

A baby shower and other family happenings brought me to the mother-land once again. As you can see from the photo below, I'm the only fool without a coat. Every time I went outside I forgot to wear one.




Mud on your upper thigh: a tell-tale sign that you are a mother.



My sister Kristine and her boy, Spence.

We threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Tasha. Her and Erik are expecting their first baby boy in a few weeks.

My sister Val and her cute kids.

Charlene and my cousin Tara with their babies.

Baby Halle and Aidan

Various relatives

This post wouldn't be complete without a picture of Edmond in the tub with one of his cousins. I know I post lots of tub pictures...but he's just so happy in there, I can't resist.

Birthday Bike

My birthday was last Tuesday and my sweet husband surprised me with a new mountain bike. I can't wait to get out there and try it!

Biking the Day Away

The weather in Northern California this past week has been AMAZING. We've done all sorts of outdoorsy things. Yesterday we took the boy out for a bike ride. He was loving his little bike trailer.

I love this picture of him pressing his hands against the side window.

Along the way we found a park. We couldn't just ride by without letting Edmond get his daily dose of wood chips. So, naturally, we stopped.

Of all the park equipment, Edmond used to really favor the swings. He's on to bigger and better things now, like the slide.

"Weee! I hope somebody catches me at the bottom!"

Edmond has discovered his tongue. He's constantly wagging it around all day long.

After the bike ride we stopped to play on the swings at Grammy and Papa's. As you can see, Edmond was still showing off his tongue waving skills.

Little Climber

I love catching Edmond playing when he doesn't know I'm there. I came into his room to find him busy in the closet taking all his toys off the shelves. He was jabbering away to himself and making a mess. He's 10 months old now.

What? Are you climbing up your shelves? Get down!

This is a picture of him and a friend he made when I took him to a baby shower.

To The Lighthouse

I just finished reading To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. It wasn't my favorite novel, but I will share my favorite part. This is Mrs. Ramsay as she sits with her young son on her lap and thinks about her small children:

"Why, she asked, pressing her chin on James's head, should they grow up so fast? Why should they go to school? She would have liked always to have had a baby. She was happiest carrying one in her arms...And, touching his hair with her lips, she thought, he will never be so happy again... Still, it was true. They were happier now than they would ever be again. A tenpenny tea set made Cam happy for days. She heard them stamping and crowing on the floor above her head the moment they woke. They came bustling along the passage. Then the door sprang open and in they came, fresh as roses, staring, wide awake, as if this coming into the dining room after breakfast, which they did every day of their lives, was a positive event to them, and so on, with one thing after another, all day long, until she went up to say good-night to them, and found them netted in their cots like birds among cherries and raspberries, still making up stories about some little bit of rubbish-something they had heard, something they had picked up in the garden. They had all their little treasures. . . And so she went down and said to her husband, Why must they grow up and lose it all? Never will they be so happy again."

I have to agree with her. It's fun to watch happy little kids go about their day. When put in a loving environment, kids are naturally happy. It's too bad we all have to grow up one day and deal with grown-up problems.

Family Photos

We had some family photos taken while Andrea and her family were in town for Christmas.

Tatanka

B and his dad flew up to Montana to russle up some tatanka. For all of you non-Indians, tatanka means buffalo. Lee had a bow and arrow made from a real Indian. He tried to shoot the tatanka with the bow and arrow first...but since it was 35 below his fingers weren't working like they should, so they ended up shooting him with a gun instead. It was a "once in a lifetime" experience, but I have a feeling they'll be doing it again someday.