The Pollard Family

The Hardest Week of Our Lives

2012-01-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

Last week was a nightmare. A bad dream that we just wanted someone to pinch us and wake us up from. It all started on Monday, when Jake saw Hannah's arm tremble ever so slightly as she reached for something. And then again when her leg would shake as she stood still. We tried to brush it off thinking just maybe she was doing it to get a reaction out of us...especially since she had a lot of big girl changes as of late (potty training, no more nursery at church) But as soon as Jake pointed it out to me, I started noticing it too.

When she woke up on Tuesday she was walking with an abnormally lazy gait. She would bump into things and fall down. What scared me the most was when I watched her try to eat a bowl of cereal and her arm started shaking as she brought it to her mouth and she couldn't keep the cereal on her spoon. Following some tearful embraces Jake and I immediately called her pediatrician and they recommended that we go straight to the ER.

Hannah spent 10 hours on Tuesday in the Emergency Room. She was examined by multiple doctors and neurologists. They ordered an MRI, blood tests, Lumbar Puncture, the whole works. She had to go all day without eating or drinking anything because she had to be put under anesthesia for the MRI. She did amazing when they put the IV in, not even flinching or shedding a tear. The hardest part was having to tell her she couldn't have something to eat or drink even when she repeatedly told us how hungry and thirsty she was.

She was admitted to the hospital and spent 4 long days there. Every test they ran came back negative. No tumors or lesions on the brain, no viral infection, nothing that gives a definitive diagnosis. But the doctors are pretty sure she is suffering from a rare post infectious illness called Acute Cerebellar Ataxia. They believe a viral infection somehow reached her brain and her cerebellum got caught in the crossfire. Within 3 days she went from running and jumping to not being able to walk, play, or perform normal everyday tasks.

Hearing your little girl scream "I want to walk!" as she crumbles to the ground after another failed attempt to use her legs is beyond heartbreaking. Watching your daughter lose her coordination and fine motor skills when you can do nothing about it is torture. When Hannah notices our tears she says in the most tender voice "I'm so sorry". What does this perfect little angel have to be sorry for? We wish more than anything that we could just take her place. No 3 year old deserves to go through such a struggle.

We yearn for the day's when we worried about stuff like a broken car, potty training, getting kids down for naps, Jake's busy medical school schedule, or what to cook for dinner. The stupid things that seemed so important went inconsequential in a matter of seconds. Now all we want is for Hannah to continue recovering so that she can walk again. So that she can play with her little brother and run around the house like a crazy person. We want to hear the pitter patter of her feet as she runs up and down the stairs, or the sound of her happy voice giggling through our home again.

Most children recover from ACA within 10-12 days. But sometimes it can last weeks, even months. Hannah was admitted into the hospital again yesterday because some of her symptoms were getting worse. I'm not posting this to receive pity, but I just know that we have so many wonderful friends out there who can pray for her because at the moment all we can do is hope and pray for a swift recovery. So if you are reading this, please take a moment to pray for our little Hannah. Please.

Boise Adventures

2011-12-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

This year was our turn to spend Christmas with Jake's family in Boise. We were able to spend over 2 weeks there and it was wonderful. We went on some fun adventures.

A couple of days after we got there we went on a train ride up to the North Pole to see Santa. Mimi rented out the caboose for the whole family. It was such a luxurious train ride! Leather seats and couches as well as an attendant who made us hot chocolate and provided snacks. Mimi had a friend make some incredible frosted Christmas cookies that were the perfect little treat for the ride.

Hannah enjoying the view from the train.
The scenic view from the train.
Love the frozen river.
Snuggles from Mimi on the train
Cousin Trey reading everyone the Polar Express
Waiting in line to see Santa
The grand kids meeting Mrs. Claus
Cute picture of the grand kids and their daddy's sitting with Santa on his Sleigh
They had a stage with hula hoops for kids the play with. Don't ask me how that relates to Santa and the North Pole....
The hay maze was an interesting addition to the North Pole as well....But Hannah enjoyed it.
Hannah and Macy in front of the train. You can see the North Pole in the background.

We had so much fun on the train ride to the North Pole, thanks Mimi and Papa!

Another fun adventure we had was going to see the Christmas lights at the Boise Botanical Gardens. There were lights everywhere, it was so beautiful! When you walk in the path was lined with trees that were decorated with these beautiful flower lights pictured below.

Family picture in front of the lights. Liam is in the stroller too, hidden under that pile of blankets.
See, told you he was there :-)

Christmas in Seattle

2011-12-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

Before we left for Boise we had a miniature Christmas in Seattle where we opened the presents that my parents sent to us. Here is Hannah opening up her Leapster, games and case. Even though she doesn't quite know how to use it yet, she loves it and carries it around most of the day.

Liam opening up one of his gifts. He got some adorable new clothes, a quiet book, and a fun basketball hoop/T-ball/football center. Besides Liams smile my favorite part of this picture would have to be my little Rambo in the background, hahahahaha. A Christmas ribbon has never looked so manly.
We all made out like bandits, thanks Grandma Geri and Papa Ron!

Hannah's Birthday Celebrations

2011-12-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time celebrating Hannah's 3rd Birthday. The day before her Birthday we went out to dinner. She requested a cheeseburger and milkshake. As we were driving to Red Robin we passed a McDonald's and Hannah yelled "I found it, I found the cheeseburger and milkshake!" The poor thing is used to high class meals. We told her we were going somewhere else and she was still excited.

Pictures from her Birthday dinner.This picture was taken when the servers brought an ice cream sundae and all sang Happy Birthday to her. She was quite sure about the whole situation, haha.

On her actual Birthday we had an ice cream party! Hannah's friend and neighbor Leah is exactly 1 year older than Hannah, so we had a combined party for them and their friends. We played games like pin the cherry on the ice cream cone, colored place-mats that had pictures of ice cream on it, and let the kids put their own toppings on their ice cream sundaes. There was a great turn out and the kids had a blast.

One of the biggest hits of the party were the cupcakes that were baked into ice cream cones. Jack especially loved his.
Hannah and Jack coloring their place-mats.
Playing with the fun blow out toy
Taking a break from the cupcake cone to play with the blow out toys some more
Liam had fun at the party too :-)

When we got home from the party Hannah opened up presents from my parents and us.

Hannah opening up her present from Grandma and Grandpa
She was so excited
She got a fun paper doll toy and that beautiful Christmas dress and a bed time cd.
Opening up her present from us. She got clothes and this cute crib for her baby.

Trying to get a picture of me with the kids.
Love these kids!
Hannah wearing the gorgeous dress my mom got her for her Birthday.
This picture would have been perfect if the lighting wouldn't have been so bright.
Now there is a beautiful smile.
Jakes mom, Mimi, flew into town for a few days after Hannah's Birthday. She brought some fun gifts including that adorable princess snuggie Jake is sporting :-)
Her other gifts were twistable crayons, coloring pages, a fold up play tent, and a gorgeous new dress. But I will just treat you with another great picture of Jake in Hannah's snuggie.

Hannah Turns 3!

2011-12-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

Today Hannah turned 3 years old (insert gasp)! She is turning into such a little lady and has such a kind and gentle personality (when she is not tired or hungry....but who doesn't get cranky when that happens??) We just love being around her and talking with her and hearing the funny things she has to say. Often times her narration during a movie is more comical then the movie itself. Recently we were watching Cinderella as family and it got to the part where the evil step sisters tear off Cinderellas dress and she said "Uh no! Her dress is broken, she needs a Mouseketool dada." Apparently the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show can be educational: a Mouseketool can solve any dilemna. Thanks Mickey.

Speaking of education, Hannah started preschool! Here she is excited for her first day of class:

Some friends in our complex mentioned that they were doing a preschool co op and invited us to join. Once a week we take turns hosting the children at our home and teach a lesson. Right now our lesson plans are based on a letter of the alphabet. She has loved it! The moms do such a good job of entertaining the children with a craft, writing, books, snacks, and games all based on the given letter.

She attended a creative dance class that I taught in November. I will do another post about it but I had so much fun teaching it! It was a free class for preschoolers and there were between 10 and 20 kids there every week. It was a great turn out and the children and their parents are requesting that I teach the class again, so it looks like Hannah will be attending a dance class in January too. Hannah loved going to dance class and interacting with her friends. Here she is in her tutu all dressed and ready for dance class:

Hannah is turning into quite the social butterfly. She loves to find children to play with and automatically refers to them as her friend, even if they just met. I love that about her. She is such a tender hearted girl and enjoys being around other children. She especially loves her little brother and is growing into an incredible big sister.Her vocabulary and grammar are growing daily. She knows and recognizes the ABCs. She can count to 20 and recognize any number. Her memory is impeccable. If you read her a book regularly she can soon read the book back to you word for word. She enjoys singing and being sung to. If you ask her who her best friend is she will say Baby Howe or Jack. Baby Howe goes everywhere with her and she wishes her friend Jack could come everywhere with her too.

This picture is a little blurry but I love it. I know I'm biased but I think she is the most beautiful girl in the world. Can you find Baby Howe in the picture?
She wanted to hold Baby Howe in the baby carrier like I carry Liam.
Here is a cute picture of Hannah with Jack and his mommy Kelli.She is quite skilled at building towers and loves to balance toys at the top of her creations.
Oh and remember this post? Or this one? She still sleeps in weird positions. Here is the proof:

We love our Hannah! We are so lucky that we get to be her parents.

8 Month Old Tubs

2011-10-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is 8 months old!!! (OK, truth be told he is now 9 months old but I started this post a while ago and it needs to be published before he is no longer a baby.) I probably sound like a broken record when it comes to saying my kids grow up too fast. But seriously people, mine are growing up way faster than most kids.

Liam's official name is William. But he gets called William like 0.001% of the time around these parts. Liam is his name in public when we introduce him to people. But at home he mostly goes by Baby Bruda, Tub of Love, Tubby's, Tubs, Buster....pretty much anything but his real name. Is that bad? I feel like we should be better at calling him by his name because at this stage they should recognize their name. But he really is just a heaping tub of love.

He is such a happy little thing. Case in point: One time I had to step out of a church meeting because he was laughing too hard. I wasn't even tickling him or anything. He loves eye contact and smiles and it doesn't matter who you are he will smile back with this big grin that lights up not just his face but the whole room. I love watching the effect he has on people. Our little ray of sunshine. Hannah can't get enough of him either. She loves making him laugh. And his laugh makes her laugh. They are like two peas in a giggling pod.

He started teething this month. Which was no fun. One day I noticed while I was feeding him some solids that between bites he would bend down and gnaw on the table of the high chair. The next day his first little tooth popped out of his gums. He was also pretty fussy and started waking up at night. I never knew when Hannah was teething until there was a new tooth in her mouth. Maybe I just understand the symptoms better this time around...or maybe Liam is just a little softy :-)

Liam's Latest

1st tooth
Started crawling
Loves to stand with support
He loves food. He will eat anything, even vegetables as long as they are disguised in some applesauce. I know. I'm sneaky like that.
He stopped sleeping through the night due to teething and 2 consecutive colds. Poor guy.
Loves people and will cry if he is left alone in a room.
His favorite thing to do is take something and hit it against another something.

He is so much fun and we love him to pieces!!

Now for some pictures:

Wearing his BSU hat to watch some college football
Playing with a toy dog
Dressed up in his Sunday best
Showing off his early crawling skills back in early October
He loves to stand in his crib
Such a sweetie

"Garbage Cawn"

2011-09-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

First of all, I love my little Hannah. She is a dream of a child. But she is obsessed with something, and it is going to drive me bonkers. Most children develop some sort of quirky little obsession when they are young. For some it is trains, others it is a certain TV show, or a favorite superhero, maybe a well loved baby doll or stuffed toy...and then there is Hannah's latest obsession. "Garbage cawn's". That would be garbage can, but she pronounces it with a British accent, hence the "cawn". She doesn't play with them. She just loves to talk about them.

While driving down the street she will point out every single garbage can we pass and talk about how dirty they are. She will count them and name the colors she see's. And lets face it, when you live in a big city you see about a bazillion garbage cans in just a quick trip. It would be more bearable if she didn't force you to repeat everything she says just so she knows you heard her. A sample conversation that transpires on a daily basis while in the car:

Hannah: "Green, black, and a blue garbage cawn! 1, 2, 3 garbage cawns!!"

Me: "Good job Hannah."

Hannah: "Garbage cawn too deerty Mama." (She say's dirty with a British accent too)

Me: "That's right Hannah."

Hannah: "Garbage cawn too deerty Mama!!"

Me: "OK Hannah."

Hannah: "Garbage cawn too deerty Gretchen!!!!" (She mean's business when she calls me by my first name)

Me: "I hear you Hannah, you're right."

Hannah: "GARBAGE CAWN TOO DEERTY GRETCHEN!!!!!!!"

And then I cave in.

Me: Begrudgingly "Yes Hannah, garbage cans are dirty."

Can you see the joy that is a car ride with her lately? She loves garbage trucks too. She will gaze out the living room window in excitement as a garbage truck pulls into the parking lot to pick up the trash. Over the past couple of weeks it has gone from hilarious and sweet to "I would rather be hit over the head by that garbage can than hear her say it one more time". Please tell me this obsession will fade. Have your kids ever had an obsession? I would love to hear about it.

Pictures

2011-09-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we took the kiddos to JCPenney Portraits to get some professional pictures taken of them. It was the first time Liam had ever had his pictures taken professionally. He is 7 months old, so it was about time. They both did great! We got some good smiles out of them.

6 Months Old

2011-08-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

Liam is now 7 months old and I still haven't posted about what he was up to at 6 months. But my mind has been elsewhere for the last month, see posts below if you want to know what on. I want to remember what this little cutie was like at 6 months, so here it goes.

Where do I even start? Liam is such a joy. He smiles and laughs for anyone who gives him an ounce of attention. He adores his big sister. Anything she does is hilarious to him. It's easy to tell he just can't wait to be mobile and try to keep up with her. When he get's excited his arms start flapping like he is trying to take flight. It is adorable. Here is a breakdown of life as a 6 month old:

Milestones
At 6 months he could stand up supporting his own weight while holding onto furniture or a hand. When he was about 5 months old he started rolling over from back to front and sitting up on his own. As soon as he figured out how to roll onto his tummy he started sleeping better. Which brings up the next category.

Sleep
Apparently sleeping in the same room as your parents for the first 6 months of life is rough because now that he has his own room he is sleeping through the night like a champ. Lately he has been sleeping from about 9pm-9am waking up once around 7am for a quick feeding and goes back to sleep. Usually he takes 2 naps but some days he is so exhausted that he need's a 3rd nap in the evening.

Words
At about 4/5 months Liam started saying "mamamama". He say's it when he is tired or hungry. It pretty much melts my heart.

Eating
He is a nursing machine. I nurse him every 2-3 hours. He loves solid food too. His favorites right now are sweet potatoes and applesauce. We tried rice cereal but he gets a red rash wherever the cereal touches his face, so we moved onto oatmeal.

Toys
Anything he can get his hands on. If he is really into a toy and someone (aka Hannah) takes it away he screams bloody murder. Such a softy.

6 Month Stats
At Liam's Dr. appt we were seen by a different nurse than usual. I think this nurse was new because her aptitude for measuring was not the best. For instance she was asking me to assist in measuring his head and it kept slipping.....needless to say I don't entirely trust these stats. The important thing is that he is a big, healthy, and happy little babe.

Weight: 18 lbs 6 oz

Height: 27 inches

Head: 17 inches

These pictures were taken at 7 months. But what is a baby update without a picture of the baby??

His smile is infectious.

"What's with the flash people?"
A rare serious moment

Such a cutie

Update

2011-08-26T22:50:00.001-07:00

Thank you friends for your sweet phone calls, messages, and comments. We can't thank you enough for all the love and support. Some of you have asked for updates, so here is what we know now. Jake had another appointment yesterday with his Urology Oncologist and we were given the lab results from the procedure. The tumor was cancerous, a T1 seminoma to be precise, but the good news is that we got it out before it had a chance to spread and there are no tumor markers in his blood work. That mean's he does not need chemotherapy or radiation at this point. He will need to have an MRI every few months for a couple of years to scan his body for any sign of a recurrence. We feel so lucky to have caught it early and relieved to know that no further treatment is necessary at this time. Thank you for your prayers, they have strengthened us and pulled us through this hardship. Life is a roller-coaster, and it looks like we are finally heading towards the upward climb....well if you don't count the craziness of the grueling 31 credits Jake has to take this semester. Good thing he is a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

Trials and Blessings

2011-08-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

This post marks the end of my 6 week blogging hiatus. There has been a lot going on in the Pollard casa. Originally I wasn't going to post about this. But it would be like editing out the most important thing going on in our lives right now. Let me elaborate. The end of July was spent packing up our apartment and moving to Seattle. 3 week's ago we moved into our new home. 2 week's ago Jake had a Dr. appointment regarding a suspicious lump. 1 week ago Jake had surgery to remove a tumor. 2 week's from today Jake starts his second year of medical school while recovering from surgery and awaiting the official diagnosis of what the doctor suspects is testicular cancer. Life has been a whirlwind.

In a time of so much turmoil and stress I have never felt so blessed. Blessed to be so close to one of the best hospitals in the nation. Blessed to have an outpouring of prayers, love, and service from family, friends, and our new ward family. Blessed to have a husband with so much faith and strength whose biggest concern right now is not being able to pick up and hold his children for a few weeks. Blessed to have 2 amazing children that remind us everyday what true joy is. Blessed that testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers. Blessed to feel the burden lifted as we pray to our Heavenly Father. Blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and know that families can be together forever because of the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now Jake has more reason than ever to sport his Livestrong bracelet. Your accomplishments amaze me Jacob. Soon you can add *Beat Testicular Cancer* to the list. Love you!

Sibling Love

2011-07-13T16:02:00.001-07:00

This morning Liam chased Hannah around the house. Well ok, he had some help from me considering he is only 5 months old. It consisted of me holding Liam out in front of me and running after Hannah. Both of them were laughing. Afterwards Hannah came up to Liam and gave him a huge hug. She then said in the sweetest little voice "I wuv you baby bruhuh" and kissed him on the forehead. Then my heart melted. I knew Hannah would be a good big sister, but I didn't realize just how quickly and how much she would love and adore him. Best friends in the making.

4th of July

2011-07-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

The Friday before the 4th Jake's lab planned a retreat and the kids and I were invited to go too. It was a picnic and hike up at Palouse Falls State Park. We ate yummy food, saw some gorgeous sites, and watched Hannah run around in the sprinklers. It was fun to get out of town for the day and see some of the beautiful things this area has to offer.

Some pictures of Palouse Falls

The 4th of July is my 2nd favorite Holiday (Christmas is my 1st). I love celebrating the birth of our country and seeing everyone dressed proudly in red, white, and blue. I love the warmth of summer, the BBQ's, the fireworks, and being with family. This was the first 4th of July that we weren't able to spend with either mine or Jake's families. We were pretty bummed about that but luckily my brother David and his wife Alaina came for a visit. On Saturday they came over for breakfast, then we took Hannah to the park and went to lunch at our favorite little Greek restaurant. Hannah refused to hold my hand while walking around, she only wanted Uncle David's hand. It was precious. After the kids napped we all went to the Aquatics Center which is basically a miniature water park and had a great time out in the sun. For dinner we went out to Mexican. This restaurant is normally packed but it was surprisingly empty. I guess it is probably because it was the 4th of July, not Cinco De Mayo :-)

On Sunday we went to church, took naps, and went to a BBQ with some of our church friends. The next day was the 4th of July. We met for breakfast and then said goodbye to Uncle Day and Aunt Laina. After breakfast we took Hannah to the park and got some ice cream. When the kids woke up from their naps we went to the water park again. (There isn't much else to do in this small town) We ended the day by going out to dinner at Applebee's and shooting off some fireworks in our parking lot. From our balcony we could see a ton of illegal fireworks people were shooting off. It was purty. Hannah had fun pointing out the different colored lights she could see. It turned out to be a fun weekend!

The kids with Uncle Day and Aunt Laina
Liam chilling poolside in his awesome shark swim suit
Such a cutie
All dressed up for the 4th of July Festivities

Her First Prayer

2011-07-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

Every night since Hannah was a baby we say family prayer together before we put her down. Once in a while we ask Hannah if she would like to say prayer. Two nights ago she finally said yes. It was such a special moment for us as parents. Of course I had to help her along and give her things to repeat. And even though some of the words were jumbled together in a language only a mom and dad could understand, it was the most beautiful little prayer we had ever heard. It's times like those where we feel like we are doing something right and teaching her the principles she need's to know.

Sweet Hannah, Heavenly Father is always waiting with outstretched arms for you to call upon Him. He is never more than a prayer away. Strengthen your relationship with Him through prayer. Love you, infinity.

"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go." -Abraham Lincoln

California Trip

2011-07-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

The kids and I flew to my hometown back in June to see Grandma Geri and Papa. We started the trip in San Jose and went to Great America. I have so many wonderful memories of my childhood at that theme park. It was great fun to be able to take my children there. Grandpa and I went on a couple of thrill rides while Grandma Geri watched the kidlets for me. Most of our time was spent in Kidzville though. Hannah was a little unsure of the rides at first but she had a great time. We spent about 8 hours at the park. Liam was such a trooper. There was this awesome Baby Station in the kid area with a room that had comfy rocking chairs just for nursing mothers. I spent quite a bit of time in there :-) We rode on fun rides, ate funnel cake, and enjoyed our time out in the sun together. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of pictures to document our trip. I couldn't find my camera and was worried that I lost it. Turns out that I thought I packed it in my suitcase but found it at the end of our trip at the bottom of the kids suitcase. Whoopsies. I managed to snap a couple on my cell phone though.

Hannah enjoying the Classic Car's ride.
The Ghost Chase Ride.
The next day we did some clothes shopping for the kids (Gma Geri loves to spoil them) and went to my cousin's Graduation BBQ. It was great to see part of the extended family. We drove back to P-town that night and spent the next few day's going to a church BBQ, playing at the park, going out to dinner, visiting my brother and his family, and hanging out at my parents house. Thanks for a fun trip Padres!

The flight to and from Cali with a 2 year old and 4 month old on my own wasn't as bad as I expected. Hannah kept busy with books, a lap top toy, movies, and snack's while Liam kept busy nursing, sleeping, and smiling at anyone who would look at him. He made quite a few friends on that trip. Babies have a regressive affect on adults, and I love it. A lady that sat near us told Jake that he was lucky to have such a wonderful and calm mother for his children. She said that she see's a lot of mom's who travel on their own and seem stressed and uptight. Thank you nice lady for noticing that I didn't flip out when Hannah threw minor tantrum's or Liam tried to do #2 out of his diaper. I appreciate it :-)

Saying goodbye to Grandma Geri at the airport. The kids love their Gma Geri and Papa!

2 and a 1/2

2011-06-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today Hannah is 2 1/2 years old. Where has the time gone? Liam just started using the bouncer/entertainment toy we bought for Hannah when she was his age. It seems like she was just bouncing in it herself. Sometimes I miss my sweet little baby girl. But other times I just love the stage she is in right now. She has always been a talker, and she continues to be. It is amazing how she is able to talk non stop. She has so many words I can't even list them. But her definite favorite is "pink". We will be driving down the street and she will be yelling " I found the pink!!" She call's out other colors but there is no doubt pink is her favorite color. She wants to wear pink, color with the pink crayon, eat pink, drink pink drinks....such a girly girl.

More favorite things: Reading, singing, Tangled, Tinkerbell, ball's, coloring, chicken, cheeseburgers, apples, apples and caramel dip, milk shakes, manderines, honey nut cheerios, fruit loops, Gatorade, ice cream, balloons, baby bruh-uh, Jack, princess blanky, going for walks, ducks, and the park.

She is developing quite the tude too (as in attitude). A few week's ago Hannah was being disobedient so Jake said "Hannah, stop, or your going to go to time out". She flipped around towards her daddy, placed her hand out in a halt position, and yelled "Time-out daddy!!!" Is it bad that I laughed? Oh my goodness, it was hilarious. She makes us laugh all the time.

She sleeps from about 9:30 pm - 8am and takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. I'm sooooo glad she still takes naps. It is so nice to get that little break in the day to do something to recharge my batteries, like read a book or watch So You Think You Can Dance :-) She has the most beautiful natural curl to her hair. She is a fantastic eater and will eat almost everything we give her. She even eats her veggies first, but she only likes peas or corn. We love our little princess!!!

Such a pretty little girl
Showing Liam how to play with the toy's on the bouncer
So precious!
She has the most gorgeous hair. All I do is wash it and brush it out and this is what it looks like. Amazing perfect curly locks. Lucky girl!
You can tell they are siblings :-) Love them to pieces!!!

Happy Half Birthday Princess!!!

Double Stroller

2011-06-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

We splurged and finally bought a double stroller! The Baby Jogger City Mini Double Stroller, to be exact. We love it!! Hannah loves to get in it and Liam is so comfy in it that he fall's asleep. I love being able to take the kids for walk's together by myself now. The stroller even folds up smaller than our Graco single stroller! It is amazing. It turns on a dime, fits through door-ways, and is very easy to fold and lift. It fits newborn's up to 5 year olds. I did a lot of research to find the perfect stroller, and I'm very happy with our choice. Here are some pictures of the kid's in it.

Hannah looks kinda funky in this picture. I took away her pink purse she was holding right before I took the picture. And she kept her arms in the position she was holding it in. Silly girl.
Taking the kids for their first stroll in it. You can see Hannah is holding her purse again :-)
Liam asleep in the stroller.

Reading

2011-05-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

Hannah loves to read. Her favorite book right now is A Cuddle for Little Duck by Claire Freedman. It is always the last book she wants us to read to her right before bed. Yesterday I found her reading the book to Liam. And the funny thing is she actually knew words that were on specific pages. What an incredible memory! She did little quirks that Jake and I both do when we read to her. Like when she gets to the page about the frog Jake always says "ribbit ribbit ribbit" while he tickles her and she does that to Liam. Or there is a page where the baby duck wiggles its tail and I always shake the book and say "wiggle wiggle wiggle". The video is a little long but it is so stink'n cute. At one point Liam's foot gets in the way of the page and Hannah gently moves it aside and says "no no baby bruh-uh". That part makes me laugh every time. At the very end she even says bye to the camera. Thank you Hannah for sharing your love of reading with your little brother, and for being so adorable.

Coeur D'Alene Vacation

2011-05-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went on a quick trip up to Coeur D'Alene to celebrate Jake being done with his 1st year of medical school. It was such a fun and well needed trip. We found a house to rent for soooooo cheap. Just $75/night for a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath house with a big living and dining room area. Besides being not quite up to my cleanliness standards and having to kill about 6 spiders, it was perfect.

We drove up Friday, ate some lunch, and checked into the rental home. Then we found a park that was right on the lake. Hannah LOVED that park. We ordered a pizza and watched some movies. On Saturday morning we got ready for a big day at Silverwood Theme Park. The weather was just perfect! Almost too hot in fact. We chose a great day to go. There weren't too many rides that Hannah wanted to go on but she enjoyed an airplane ride and a boat ride. We had a yummy BBQ lunch and Jake watched the kiddies while I went on some fun rides that he was definitely not interested in. I can't understand why he doesn't love roller-coasters. We left the park at about 6pm, got cleaned up, and headed to this cute Italian restaurant our friends told us about called Tomato Street. It was really busy but very tasty.

On Sunday we just hung around the house and took Hannah to the park a couple of times. We took a picnic and left just before it started to rain. We went on a little drive to see more of the lake and saw some gorgeous homes. Coeur D'Alene is such a pretty gorgeous place. I am so glad we finally took the time to drive just 80 miles north to enjoy more of what Idaho has to offer. It really is a beautiful state.

Hannah and Jake waiting to go on a bumper boat ride
Hannah loved it. And it looks like daddy did too.
If you zoom in you can see how much fun Hannah was having. She has a huge grin on her face.
Hannah and I waiting in line to ride a big swing.
Once it got going she wasn't a big fan of it.
They wouldn't let us ride in the plane with her. But she looked like such a big girl on it by herself. She had this very serene look on her face the whole time.
Daddy and Hannah on the carousel.
Hannah chose that cute little bench for them to sit on.
Getting ready to go play at the park
She loves wearing that hat.

Liam is 4 Months Old!

2011-05-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Our little boy turned 4 months old today! It seems like just yesterday I was writing Hannah's 4 month old post. Now I know why my mom told me to treasure this infancy time, it really does go by so fast. Liam rolled over from his stomach to back 2 weeks ago. He is reaching for things, holding onto toy's, and loves to watch everything going on around him. A month ago (on April 28th) he laughed for the 1st time. It was music to my ears. That same day he slept 8 hours straight at night for the first time. What a good boy.

He has always sucked on his hand when he is hungry or tired but a few day's ago he discovered his thumb! It is the sweetest thing to see him putting himself to sleep sucking on his thumb. When we hold him sitting down he still loves to sit upright. His favorite time is getting his diaper changed. He will just smile up at you and laugh and talk in the sweetest little voice. It definitely makes the fact that I change his diaper every couple of hours less of a chore and more of a privilege.

He had his check-up a few day's ago and did so well with his shots! He didn't even cry with the 1st one, but the nurse warned me that the 2nd shot stings and sure enough he cried with that one. Poor little tike. He was a bit more fussy and had a mild fever but I'm just glad he is getting the protection he need's to keep him healthy.

Stats

Weight: 16 lbs 2 oz

Height: 26"

Head: 16 3/4"

Here are Hannah's stats from her check-up when she was 4 months old. It is kinda fun to compare. Turn's out Liam is exactly the same height Hannah was, but he is just a bit more chunky. He has her beat by over a pound. Now I know why it is becoming increasingly more difficult to lug the chunk around in his car seat. What can I say? The kid loves to nurse.

Love this big grin! This is the face we wake up to every morning.
Trying to get a picture of Liam and I
This is a sweet one of him. He has the most gorgeous blue eyes ever.
He is definitely filling out his car seat.

I love this stage in infancy! We are having so much fun with our little man!

Play Time

2011-05-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

A few mornings ago Hannah put her sunglasses on Liam, grabbed her toy camera and started taking pictures of him. It was so sweet. I am so excited to see them start to play together. Hannah laughs at just about everything her "baby bruh-uh" does. This is just the beginning of a lot more play time and a wonderful friendship.

Conversation with Liam

2011-05-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what it's like to have a conversation with a 3.5 month old? It goes a little something like this. Little Liam had a lot to talk about. He is already such a ham for the camera. What a little sweetie-pie.

Birthday and White Coats

2011-04-21T19:46:00.001-07:00

April 15th was my *cough* 26th *cough* birthday. Remember when you looked forward to birthday's? 16 was a big one because that meant getting my driver's license and entering the dating world. 18 meant I was legally an adult, I could vote, and I started college. 21 is a big one for most people....for obvious reason's, for me it was the year I married my college sweetheart (love you bubba). But what do you have to look forward to at 26??? It seems like the next birthday goodie isn't until I get the senior discount at 65, haha.

I love where I am right now in life though. When I was young and I pictured what my life would be like in my mid-20's I'm happy to say I'm exactly where I thought I would be. Happily married with 2 darling kiddos. Life does have it's hardships. Especially right now during Jake's final's week. I have seen Jake in seriously only 10 minute increments the past couple of weeks. People aren't joking when they say medical school is hard. My admiration for Jake and his smartness (yes I just said smartness) have grown tremendously over this school year. On Monday he is officially done with his 1st year and I get my best-friend back. Yay. So moral of the story, find joy in the journey and count your blessings everyday.

I digress...back to my birthday. It was a great day. Jake's mom was in town because his White Coat Ceremony was the same day. Jake and I were able to go out on a couple of dates thanks to Mimi's babysitting. Thanks Mimi! All of us went out to a scrumptious dinner before the White Coat Ceremony. It was a low key celebration of the med students being 1 step closer to becoming doctor's. They each got called up individually and their preceptor would say a few word's about the student and what a fabulous doctor they would make. Jake's preceptor said he will always remember Jake as the guy who didn't show up for his first day of precepting, haha. But then he went on to say Jake had the best excuse one could have because we had our baby boy that morning. He also talked about the qualities Jake has that will make him a great doctor. Then they each got their white coat. We also ate yummy desserts and watched a slide show presentation featuring pictures of the students and their families through out the year. When we got home I blew out some candles and we ate a delicious cake Lanette made me. See what I mean? It was a very Happy Birthday indeed.

So proud of my husband! He looks good in a white coat ;-)
Myself, Rebekah, and Kelli. Love these girl's so much! We couldn't have made it through our husband's first year of med school without each other.
Getting his white coat put on.
Jake's preceptor talking about him.
This is very typical, we can usually be found by the food.
Trying to get a family picture. And failing....miserably...
This was the best shot and you can't even see mine or Liam's face, haha.Liam fell asleep with daddy. Sleepy baby snuggles are the best.
The bestest friend's anyone could ever ask for.
Jake with his bud's. That's including you Liam.
A blurry shot of Jake with part of his class.Blowing out my Birthday candles. Hannah helped :-)

Goodbye Cranks

2011-04-21T19:22:00.001-07:00

A couple of week's ago Liam's cranky personality did a 180. No longer is he the fussy baby who needs to be constantly held and rocked. Now he is perfectly content to lay on his play mat or swing in his swing. My back is very happy about the improved situation :-) He is most talkative and smiley during diaper changes. He will look up at me with the biggest grin and coo. He knows just how to melt my heart. He has had to fight through 2 colds already. One of which his cough was so deep and productive that he needed antibiotics. But he is such a tough little guy and bounced back fast. His cold threw off his great sleeping and for a while he was waking up every 2 hours. But last night he slept for 7 hours! I sure hope the sleep fairy visits us consistently. Oh sleep, how I miss thee. Here are some pictures of our little boy who is growing up so fast.

Real men can pull of the pink Bumbo Seat and still look macho. Turn's out we should have thought ahead and invested in a more neutral color. Whoops.

I love those big blue eyes

Such a happy boy!

I think this was the first time he ever fell asleep without being rocked.

"Color Me"

2011-04-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Hannah LOVES to color. She probably colors a good 2 hours everyday. She loves it when people color with her and will constantly ask us to "color me". For those of you who don't speak Hannah, that mean's "color with me". When we do color she likes to tell me which color to use, what to color, and where to color. She will tell me a shape, object, or animal and I will draw it for her to color in. Pretty impressive for a 2 year old.

We are amazed with how well she stay's in the lines

She holds the crayon's with perfect form

Dear Liam

2011-03-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Liam,

You were blessed by your loving daddy on March 27th, 2011. You looked so handsome in your little white tux that Mimi bought for you. Your dad couldn't make it to your name before he started to tear up. It was a tender and beautiful blessing. Daddy blessed you that as you grow, you will be healthy and strong and able to perform any physical activities that come throughout your life. He blessed you with a strong mind and with a desire to learn and gain an education. He blessed you to always seek learning from sources that would influence your life for good. Daddy also told you how much your Father in heaven loves you. He blessed you that you will develop a testimony of Jesus Christ and the Atonement and that you will have the desire to make covenants at baptism and in the temple. He blessed you with the desire to someday serve a mission and bring others to the Gospel. He blessed you that through your example, others will come into the Gospel. He blessed you with physical health, mental strength, and spiritual strength. He also expressed how much your parents love you and will always be here for you. Even though you cried through most of it, and your big sister was fussing because she wanted to be by you and daddy, it was perfect. We are so thankful to have you in our lives. Your smiles light up the room. I can't wait to see the wonderful young man you will become. We love you, our dear sweet Liam.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Looking so handsome in your tux.

I can't get over how stinking cute you are
I got some smiles out of you.
You look even cuter when you smile.
Mommy, daddy, and you. Hannah was napping when we took this picture....but it appears that your mommy was the one in need of a good nap.

Big Kids

2011-03-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

At 6 week's old Liam is a whopping 12 lbs and 22 inches long. Now for some perspective here. Everyone who know's Hannah know's she is a big girl. She is one of the younger kids in nursery and stands about a head taller than everyone else. She is 2 year's old, 37 inches tall, 34 lbs, and wear's 3T and 4T clothes. My 2 year old is the size of a 4 year old. Hannah was just over 12 lbs and 22 inches at her 2 month check up. That mean's Liam is 2 week's ahead of Hannah in size. That mean's Liam is bigger than Hannah. Which mean's Jake and I are just destined to make BIG babies. Which mean's we go through clothing sizes surprisingly fast in this household.

Here is our little man at 6 week's old. He looks so grown up in this picture. And handsome.

Already a big basketball fan

Hannah loves to hold her baby brother
And gives him plenty of kisses
He fell asleep dancing with daddy. Turn's out little Liam is a huge Josh Groban fan.

1 Month Old

2011-02-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

I wrote this post a while ago, but life has been pretty hectic around here so my blog has been neglected. Better late than never is my motto :-)

Our little Liam is a month old. The day's go by pretty slow....but I still can't believe it has been a month already. First of all he is THE CUTEST baby boy I have ever seen. I might be biased....just a little :-) The fact that he is so darn cute makes it easier to put up with the cranky times. Yup our little Liam is a fussy baby.

He is much more vocal about his discomforts than Hannah was. If he has a bubble he will grunt and fuss until he is burped. He cries more often than Hannah did. We didn't realize how lucky we were with Hannah as a baby until this little guy was born. Babies are supposed to cry 1-4 hours a day. I honestly don't remember Hannah crying much at all. As long as she was fed every 2-3 hours she was happy as a clam. Liam has probably cried as much as 2 hours in total throughout the day. Even though I know it is how babies communicate, it is still really hard to hear him cry as much as he does. I have looked up cholic a lot on the computer these day's, but apparently he doesn't have it. Cholic is when babies cry inconsolably for 3 hours straight, 3 day's a week, for 3 week's. Wowzers. So glad that is not the case.

He has always been a fairly decent sleeper at night. He ranges between 2-4 hours between feedings. The longest stretch he has gone between feedings at night was 6 hours. During the day he likes to eat every 2-3 hours. Nap's are hit and miss. Someday's he will nap like a champ, other day's he will sleep a little here and a little there and wake up as soon as I put him down.

Being a mother of 2 is quite the adjustment. Sometimes I feel like I'm stretched too thin. Like when Liam is crying because he is tired and I am trying to rock him to sleep but Hannah keep's walking in and turning on the light, and when I ask her to leave she starts crying which in turn wakes Liam up. He constantly wants to be held which makes it hard to be there for Hannah like I want to be. Do you mom's out there ever feel like you are neglecting your older children by taking care of your newborn? I'm trying to find a balance, but it is hard.

Most of the time Hannah is just beautiful with Liam. She wants to hold him, snuggle, give kisses, laugh at him, soothe him when he cries, and just be around him. When ever he is sleeping she asks for "baby bru-uh". But there are also times when she get's too excited around him and accidentally jumps too close to him and hits him or pats him a little too hard on the head. You can really tell she loves her little brother already. Liam loves Hannah too. When she get's near him and starts talking to him his eyes just light up. If he is fussy with me and she starts giving him attention he immediately stops crying and just stares in awe at her. I captured this adorable picture of Liam on his 1 month birthday smiling the biggest grin I have seen him have and it was focused at his big sister. He saves his biggest grin's for her. I can't wait to see how close these two little tikes will be.

Liam's Favorite Things:
He loves to stare at lights.Enjoy's diaper changes and laying on the bed afterward.
Hannah.
His favorite position is sitting up. (with assistance of course)
Standing with his strong little legs

Being held in the Moby Wrap (Moby Wrap = Life Saver, this contraption deserves a post of its own in praise...actually that is not a bad idea. Moby Wrap post to come)

Some more pictures from February:

Sibling Snuggles

First picture as a family of 4 (Hannah 2 years old, Liam 11 day's old)

I love Hannah's grin in this one

So sweet

Liam looking cute in his bouncer at 3 weeks old
Looking at Hannah

Liam's Birth Story

2011-01-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

First of all, in case you missed the announcement, we did eventually name our son....right before leaving the hospital :-) William James Pollard. But we call him Liam. Today is his official due date and he is 10 day's old, so I figure it is about time I wrote out the story of his birth before I forget. I know I always enjoy hearing/reading the birth stories of friend's, so maybe you do too.

I was not expecting him to come early. So when I felt some weird stuff going on Tuesday night (the 25th) I brushed it off. Especially since I was looking for the same labor sign's I had with Hannah. The first thing I felt happened when I was doing dishes after dinner. I got this strong sudden pain in my lower pelvic area which looking back I'm pretty sure it was "lightening". This is when the baby drops into your lower pelvis. It can happen week's before going into labor so I didn't think it meant I would be giving birth in the morning. Right before going to bed at around 11pm I started feeling light cramping with what I thought were still braxton hick's contractions. Jake asked if I thought I was going into labor and I told him no. So we went to bed.

At about 3:30am I woke up to more contraction's with cramping. They were irregular at first but after Jake created a spreadsheet on his lap top and we noticed they were coming every 3-4 minutes and lasting about 50 second's we decided that I was definitely in labor. I called my dad to see if he suggested going to the hospital and he told me to go in and get checked. At 4:30am we called my great friend Kelli and she ran over with her baby boy to stay with Hannah while we went to the hospital. Shout out to Kelli, you are awesome.

When I got to the hospital I was at 2.5 cm. They checked me again in an hour and I was still at 2.5 cm. They gave me the option of going home which I immediately turned down because I could tell the contractions were getting stronger. They checked me an hour later and I had dilated from 2.5 to a 7. In an hour. That was intense. I certainly proved to them that I was indeed in active labor. They finally admitted me and at this point I was anxiously awaiting an epidural. But the nurse said I needed to be hydrated with an IV before the epidural. After 3 failed attempts to put an IV in she got another nurse who actually knew what she was doing :-) I didn't get the epidural until I was at a 9. Which was basically just in time to push. After the epidural I remember looking at the screen which show's the contraction's and being so grateful that I wasn't feeling them because they were coming so close together. It was nice to get a short break from the pain and regain some energy before it was time to push. The Dr broke my water and shortly there after I felt like I needed to push. I pushed twice and our little miracle was born at 10:31 am. 7 hours of labor and 2 pushes. We love our little Liam!

Baby Boy

2011-01-27T19:31:00.001-08:00

Here is a picture of our handsome little guy. More to come when we leave the hospital tomorrow. He is yet to be named. This is what happen's when 2 very indecisive people get hitched and have babies. But you should be happy to know we have narrowed it down to 2 possibilities. Now we're just waiting for the little guy to speak up and voice his opinion.

Welcome to the World

2011-01-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

Our little boy was so excited to enter the world that he did so 10 day's early. He was born at 10:31am today. Weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz and a lengthy 22 3/4 inches. Labor only lasted about 7 hours and I only had to push twice! I know I know *pats self on back*

We are doing great! He is a sweet little baby and we already love him so much. He is just perfect. I will post the birth story soon, with pictures.

Dilemma

2011-01-24T09:27:00.000-08:00

Hello friends. I am in a bit of a pickle.

So let's just imagine that you and your husband have a name picked out for your soon to be born son. Now let's also imagine that one of your best friend's is also expecting a boy just a week or so before you are. You discuss names with this friend but not the one you have picked out. So that friend of yours has her baby and guess what? She names him the same name you and your husband were planning on using.

Now what do you do? You live in different states and won't see this friend very often. At most once a year unless you somehow end up living in the same state year's down the road. So do you name your son as planned? Or do you forfeit the name?

Advice, please.

36 Week's Pregnant

2011-01-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

As of this past Saturday I am 36 week's pregnant. Just about 4 short week's left. I feel like my life has been set on fast-forward for the past 8 months. I can't believe how close we are to meeting the little guy that has been using my insides as a punching bag. I definitely have a lot to do before he is allowed to come out though. Lately I have been nesting like crazy. Organizing and cleaning things that have been on my to do list for months. But I'm starting to feel like at least the apartment is ready for his arrival.

Did you catch the apprehension in that last sentence? Yeah, me too. One thing that has made me more nervous about being ready for a newborn is the fact that we just found out Jake has a test week 2 day's after I'm due. Test week's are crazy. Jake is hardly home. And to throw a new baby on top of that makes me anxious. I know everything will work out. Especially since our mom's will be here to help. But I just hate to add more stress to Jake during that time. And I know how hard it will be on him to want to spend time with the baby but have to be at the library or taking another exam. Basically the timing is not the best but what can you do?

Thank's for letting me vent but besides that I'm feeling relatively great. I'm tired, which is understandable. I get heartburn every night but when I get up to use the little girl's room for the 2nd time in the middle of the night I just grab a Rolaid and I'm good as new. I've been getting a lot of Braxton Hick's contractions the past couple of week's. It seem's like they are coming more often than they did with Hannah but I'm assuming that is because I recognize them this time around. My hips and lower back ache like crazy when I am trying to get comfortable in bed at night. Supposedly it's a good thing because it mean's the ligaments are softening so that a big ol baby can fit through the birth canal. But whatev, it hurts. I told Jake the other night that I can't wait to feel comfortable when lying down again.

As for a name, we are still indecisive. Boy's names are tough!!!! We have a few we really like so hopefully when we see him one of the names will just click. At least that is what we are counting on.

And here is my growing baby mountain (no longer does it meet the classification of a bump) at 36 + Weeks

New Bed and New Word's

2011-01-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

Hannah grew up a lot during our trip to CA for Christmas. She slept in a toddler bed for the first time and did incredibly well. That first night I was nervous when I laid her in the toddler bed. Jake and I thought for sure she would consider the lack of railings as an invitation to run around and not sleep through the night. We were shocked to wake up at 8am the next morning listening to her say "mama, dada" and sitting on her knee's waiting for us to come get her. She never tried to get out when we put her down and waited for us to come get her in the morning or from her nap. It was a Christmas miracle.

She also started saying some new word's while we were there:

"Deer"- there is a herd of deer that live in my parent's neighborhood. We saw them at least 5 times a day and Hannah loved to look out the window at them.

"What color is the snow?"- she was asked this question quite a bit on the trip and eventually she started asking us too

"White"- in response to the above question

"Spider"- Just to clarify, it is not because she saw one but because she loves singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" with us.

"Oshay" = Okay. I like the way she say's this word better.

"Nayna" = What she call's her aunt Alaina

"Pee Pee" = Cupcake. Don't ask me why she call's them this, but at least she is consistent :-)

"Ball sha ball" = Lollipop, now that name actually makes sense.

I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them. But you get the picture, she is growing up fast. Now if I could only gather up the courage to attempt potty training.....

An Early Christmas

2011-01-06T17:22:00.000-08:00

Since we spent Christmas in Paradise with my family this year we opened present's over Skype with Jake's family before we left. Isn't Skype wonderful? I loved that they were able to see Hannah's reactions as she opened up her kitchen supplies and cupcakes. As well as mine and Jake's reactions as we opened our gifts. They were able to spoil us even being 400 miles apart. Thanks so much Mimi and Papa!

Some pictures from the Skype call:

She LOVES her cupcakes from Uncle B

Unwrapping her grocery cart from Mimi and Papa
Check out that loot of kitchen supplies she scored. She really loves pouring with her pitchers. You can see the family on the lap top to the left of the picture.
Covering up her new baby with a blanky

Christmas in Paradise

2011-01-06T16:12:00.001-08:00

We were able to spend 10 day's in California at my parent's house over Christmas and New Year's. It has been year's since we have been able to stay for so long. One of the few perk's of the student life again :-)

I sure do miss the ease of traveling from Provo to Paradise. Now we have to drive an hour and a half to Spokane, fly to Portland, catch a 2nd flight to Sacramento, and then drive another hour and a half to Paradise. It was definitely worth it. Hannah made it easier on us by traveling like a champ coming and going, thanks princess. She LOVES having her own seat on the airplane, so I guess something good comes out of having to pay for her to fly now.

We got into town 2 day's before Christmas and spent that time getting some last minute Christmas shopping done. 3 of my 4 siblings were able to be there for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which was wonderful. On Christmas Eve we had a yummy Prime Rib dinner and went for a drive to look at Christmas lights. When we woke up on Christmas Day we found that Santa came and left Hannah a sweet ride along with some goodies in her stocking.

We waited for David and his wife Alaina to go open presents with her family before we opened ours. Which actually worked out perfect because we were able to shower and eat a scrumptious breakfast of aebleskiver's (a Danish pancake and Ainsworth tradition) and egg's before we all opened our gifts. We got so many great things and basically made out like bandits. Even baby boy got spoiled with gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. We spent the rest of the day lounging out, playing basketball outside, eating a ham dinner and going to the movies. It was a wonderful Christmas.

The remainder of the trip we ate and ate and ate....good thing I'm pregnant and supposed to be gaining weight, otherwise I would have been in trouble. My parents sure know how to host. We went to the movies again, this time taking Hannah to see Tangled for the 3rd time :-) She loves that movie. Especially the horse in it named Max. Whenever he was on screen she would make horse sounds, yell horsey, or talk about the apples he was eating. I guess I owe an apology to the other people in the theater....but at least they were happy sounds right? We also played a lot of Playstation 3, watched football, went out to lunch/dinner, and just had fun spending time with family.

New Year's Eve was pretty low key, which is just the way we like it. We stayed up to watch the ball drop, toasted with sparkling cider, and kissed our spouses goodnight. Can you believe that it is 2011????

On New Year's Day my brother Justin and his friend took Jake shooting while we were there. It worked out great because Hannah and I hung out with my sister-in-law Deena and her 2 adorable little girl's while the guy's were out shooting stuff. Thanks for bringing my husband home in one piece Justy :-) That evening we helped my parents make our traditional dinner of tamales. Yum.

We flew home the day after New Year's. When we got off the plane in Spokane Hannah started asking if we were going to see Grandma Geri. And when we got to the parking lot she was talking about Geri's Car. It is fair to say Hannah loves her Grandma Geri and all the family she got to see over Christmas. Thank you for a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Grandma Geri and Grandpa Ron! On our way home Jake and I talked about how relaxing and perfect our trip to Paradise was. We look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks for the birth of baby boy :-)

Now for some pictures from the trip:

We have a 2 year old

2010-12-07T11:19:00.000-08:00

Hannah girl turned 2 on Friday. We had a little party with Jake's family while we were there for Thanksgiving. She got some fun present's and we sang Happy Birthday to her. To celebrate on her Birthday we went out to dinner at a local thai restaurant. Turn's out Hannah loves thai food. Especially chicken satay and pad thai. She ate like a champ.

On Saturday was her birthday party. We combined with another family in our ward whose girl also turned 2 the same week. It was a Fancy Nancy themed party. The birthday girl's dressed up in Fancy Nancy dresses with necklaces and crown's. It was adorable. We ate food, played a couple of games, opened presents, and had some yummy cupcakes. It was perfect.

Hannah's big birthday present from us was a brand new kitchen. Which I put together myself. Jake was busy studying for final's, and I couldn't wait for Hannah to start playing with it. We found it on Amazon for a great deal. It is the pertiest little kitchen I've ever seen. But I am never putting anything together again. It took me 4 hours. Certainly at least twice as long as it would have taken Jake. And when I was "finished" there were 3 pieces that were left unused. Turn's out I missed a crucial step. I forgot to put the back board's on before I built the rest. Obviously I delegated Jake to fix my mistake :-) Thanks babe.

Hannah's brand new kitchen

Hannah at 2

Our absolute favorite new thing that Hannah does is she thanks us for everything. If you hand her something, or help her with something, or basically do anything for her she will say "ank you mama" or "ank you dada" (aka "thank you"). It is he cutest thing in the world. She looks you in the eyes when she say's it and it makes you feel like you just did the most important thing that's ever been done for her.

She loves food. Chicken, ham, cheese, crackers, pasta, bread, pea's, corn (especially corn on the cob), apples, oranges, bananas, fruit snacks, cookies, egg's, waffles, cream of wheat...are all among her favorites. She is a very independent eater and is very skilled with fork's and spoons. Which makes it much easier on me at meal-times.

She has a sleeping schedule. We put her down at 9:30pm and she wakes up around 8am. She takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. Man do I love those nap's. I hope she keep's it up.

She loves being "priey" (aka pretty). She is constantly getting into my makeup and she trys to put thing's on while saying "priey". When I am putting makeup on she will come in and ask to be "priey" too. She also loves to wear crown's and necklaces.

Loves to help clean. Give her a rag and she will wipe down anything for you.

Loves to color, play with blocks, and puzzles. And she enjoy's having someone play with her. I can't count the # of times in a day where she grab's my hand and drag's me over to join her in play.

Say's new word's and phrases all the time. She is doing less and less jibberish and more talking.

LOVES her baby dolls. She is constantly kissing and hugging her babies. Yesterday she sat baby in the high chair and brought over a container and spoon and stood there feeding the baby.

She does not like nursery. It is mostly our fault for accompanying her into nursery because she would cry when we would try to leave. She has gone the past 2 Sunday's staying in nursery the whole time without us. Of course she cries at first, but within 10 minutes she is playing and eating snack's like nothing is wrong. We need a better method with the next one.

She like's to go "bye bye in da car". She will first ask if we are going to get dada. And if I say no she assumes we are going to see "Jaaa" (aka Jack, her best baby boy bud). She adores Jack and is so sweet with him. She will tickle him, pat him, and bring him toy's. The way she treat's him makes me less worried for the transition when the little man join's us in a couple of month's.

If her eyes were open this would be the perfect representation of our joyful little 2 year old

Happy Birthday pumpkin!
Playing pin the crown on the princess at her birthday party
The 2 Birthday Girls
She did such a great job blowing out her candle!
Chowing down on her cupcake
Opening presents
She loves wearing her crown and necklaces around the house. She really is such a princess.

Happy Birthday to our sweet little angel!!

Thanksgiving in Boise

2010-11-30T22:16:00.000-08:00

We drove to Boise this year for Thanksgiving. The drive there wasn't bad at all. Hannah was content to watch her movies and it only took us about 6 hours. We had a ton of fun with Jake's family. Jake had a week off for Thanksgiving, but unfortunately his final exam's started right after break, so he spent quite a bit of time studying. That didn't stop the rest of us from having fun :-) I managed to get almost all my Christmas shopping for Jake's family while we were there. We ate TONS of excellent food. We also took Hannah to see Tangled. Such a cute movie!! And Hannah loved it. She sat there and watched the entire thing. I guess we can officially start taking her to movies again, haha.

On Monday night I watched Dancing With The Stars with some highly unlikely viewers: Papa and my brother-in-law Mike. They didn't just watch it with me, they critiqued the performances, predicted scores, reacted when the scores didn't match up with what they saw, and I loved every second of it :-) So fun! Toward's the end of the program the kid's came out of the play room and noticed the music. They all started dancing and even Papa joined in on the fun. Here is a short clip of them getting their groove on.

Dance Party from Gretchen Pollard on Vimeo.

On Tuesday night we drove to Nampa to visit our good friend's the Bower's. It was so good to see them! They fixed us up a fabulous dinner and we had a wonderful time. They have a 1 year old son named Samuel, and they are expecting a baby girl next month. Hannah and Samuel played so well together! Hannah is not big on hugging, but when we said by to them she gave Samuel multiple hugs with pat's on the back. It was adorable, and fitting since they have a prearranged marriage :-)

Illnesses plagued part of our trip. On Weds Jake's sister Aubrey was in so much pain that she had to go to the ER. They weren't able to pin-point the exact cause, but the doctor thinks it was a ruptured cyst. Scary. She recovered quickly and we are sooo glad. On Sat Hannah came down with a high fever. Fortunately it went away by morning, but it was a rough 12 hours for her.

Sunday afternoon we said goodbye to family and headed home. The drive was 8 hours instead of 6 due to snowy road condition's and accident's that blocked traffic. It felt so good to finally get home. It is gorgeous here in Moscow. It became a winter wonderland while we were gone.

Time for pictures!!

Macy, Katelyn, and Hannah played so well together. Hannah and Macy (4 yrs old) just adore each other. I love that even though we are separated by distance, there is still an undeniable love and connection between Hannah and her cousin's.

Above is Hannah with her Mimi, Papa, and Uncle B. She loves them all so much. We truly are blessed with wonderful families, on both sides. We love and miss you guy's already!

Another Reason We Love Shutterfly

2010-11-29T12:11:00.001-08:00

Hello blogging friend's.

Guess what folks? Shutterfly.com is doing a special promotion where you get 50 free holiday card's for writing up a blog post about Shutterfly and the amazingness that is this company/website. I have used Shutterfly a lot over the years.

I made Jake this photo book last year as a Father's Day Present. I have also made photo books as present's for my parent's and Jake's parent's. Last year I made a Christmas card on their site that I just loved. This year I am working on another one, here is the sneak peak.

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

They have so many beautiful Christmas Card designs. Go here to check them out and make one of your own! Photo Calender's and Personalized Card's also make great gifts. Shutterfly.com is very user friendly and always has special discounts and promotion's to make your creation's even more affordable. Now go to Shutterfly.com and get started on your own masterpiece!

Hello 3rd Trimester

2010-11-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I was officially 28 week's pregnant. Which mean's I am in the 3rd and final trimester of this pregnancy. Wowzer's. I felt the little guy hiccup for the first time a couple of day's ago. So precious. According to the ultrasound he weigh's about 3 lbs, has chubby cheeks, big lips, big eyes, and an attachment to his hand being right by his face. We are so excited to meet him. And now we just have to weight 2.5 months.

Baby bump at 28 weeks

Trip Home to the Paradise City

2010-11-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hannah and I spent last week with my parent's in good ol Paradise. We had a lot of fun with them. Hannah just loves her "Gama Geriii" and "Papa". She loved all the attention she got from them. And if Grandma wasn't paying attention to Hannah, she new exactly how to get it back. She was constantly yelling "Geeeerrrriiiii!!!" if she didn't know where she went. It was pretty precious. We mostly just hung out at home. But on Tues night we had BIG plan's :-)

We went to the So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour at the ARCO Arena. It was awesome!!! Hannah went with us and did remarkably well. The show was 2.5 hours long and she clapped and danced right along with them. A man sitting near us commented on Hannah's rhythm and thought that she was taking dance classes. But when we informed him she wasn't even 2 yet he was even more impressed. The show was amazing. Our seat's could have been better, but next time we'll know to get stadium seat's and not ones on the floor. Otherwise it was a perfect night.

On Thursday Hannah got her flu shot. She only cried for about 10 second's and never complained since. She is such a trooper. Right after her shot I had a 3D Ultrasound appointment (Thanks Padre!!). Since my dad refer's so many patient's to this Ultrasound office they did it free of charge! Usually it would cost about $200. One of the many privileges of having an OBGYN for a dad.

On Thursday night we drove up to Lake Tahoe. Which is one of the most gorgeous places on earth. We ate yummy food, hung out in the condo with the fire place going, played, and just enjoyed being together. Thanks so much for an incredible weekend mom and dad! Not to mention a great week. We love you guy's and can't wait to be together again for Christmas!

We visited Justin and his family on Sunday. Hannah had a lot of fun riding this rocking horse.

Hannah with her adorable cousin's

I love getting them together

Grandma and Grandpa bought Hannah this beautiful Belle costume at Disneyland a couple of week's ago. Hannah LOVED wearing it.

She loved admiring herself in the mirror too.

Our beautiful baby boy! Check out those chubby cheek's and big lips!

He was yawning :-) He also kept his hand up by his face almost the entire ultrasound.

Hannah playing on Grandma Geri

It looks like Hannah had a lot more fun doing this than Grandma did...

Proof that we went to the SYTYCD Live Tour :-) Pretty good shot for no flash eh?
2 of my favorite dancer's. Allison and Kent. Love them!
Check out this action shot!! I caught the boy's mid air. That is pure photographic genius right there, haha.
A cute shot of part of the cast. Robert was looking gooooooooooooooood
Russell after his krumping solo. He is intense.
Ade and Billy dancing one of my favorite all time dances. Mad World by Stacey Tookey. Look it up on Youtube, it is amazing.

And that was our week in a nut shell!

Christmas Family Photos 2010

2010-11-06T00:06:00.001-07:00

Last year my sister in law Rashell took our family pictures. Go here to reminisce with me how much our little Hannah has grown in a year. Since we moved far away from Rashell and her fabulous photography skills I had to find someone else to take our pictures this year. Kassy Whetten of Whetten Photography is in our ward and she took our pictures last weekend. They turned out great! I posted some of my favorites but you can go to her blog and check out more of them.

Halloween Festivities

2010-10-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

Friday night we went to the local mall for a mall-wide trick-or-treat event. It was a fun way to stay warm and get some candy :-) Hannah got the hang of trick-or-treating very fast. She would walk up to whoever had the candy, open her bag, and wait patiently to be given some candy. After they gave her candy she would close her bag, walk away, and say "bye". Haha. She cracks me up. One time there was a group of people sitting down checking out their candy loot and Hannah saw candy and thought "hey, that must be for me". So she walked over to them and opened her bag. Jake and I got to her before the kids felt obligated to share their sweets. So funny.

After the mall we went to a costume party that Jake's med school class put together. It was fun to see everyone and their creative costumes. And of course everyone loved Hannah and her princess costume. She is always quite the hit. I threw together last minute costumes for Jake and I. We went as a pregnant witch and an under-cover sheriff, I'll let you decide who was what :-)

Saturday night we had a ward Halloween Party. We ate soup in bread bowls, cup cakes, and did some more trick-or-treating. Halloween was a lot of fun!

Introducing Princess Hannah!

She kept saying how "priyee" she was. AKA pretty

This is the outfit Hannah wore to church today. Thanks Grandma Geri! She looked adorable!

Candid shot

HAPPY HALLOWEEEN!

Growing Belly

2010-10-19T21:06:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted a baby bump picture in quite a while. So for those of you that are interested, here ya go. I am just over 24 weeks. 24 weeks and 3 days to be exact :-) 3 and 1/2 weeks until I am in the 3rd trimester! Yay! I'm feeling great pregnancy wise. Just some occasional heart burn. Nothing a few Rolaid's can't cure.

The Red Barn Farm

2010-10-15T10:51:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we went to the Red Barn Farm with our friend's the Hill's. We followed them to the farm as they followed their GPS. I would just like to thank them (and their GPS) for the wonderful unnecessary tour of Eastern Washington's vast countryside. It took us about an hour to get there, and about 20 mins to get back home. We took all the back road's and when we got there we saw that Highway 195 just happened to be right next to the farm. Whoops. It was an adventure and a very beautiful drive.

The Farm was a lot of fun! There was a BBQ, fun shop's, a hay maze, a live band, and a pumpkin patch. We ate a delicious pulled pork sandwich, picked out the perfect pumpkin, ate some candy, and watched Hannah run around in the hay maze. She LOVED every second of that maze.

Here is a picture of the Red Barn Farm. Beautiful.

Hannah running around in the maze

Baby Jack wondering why his parent's stuck him in a pile of hay :-) To create the perfect Kodak moment of course.

Having so much fun.

More running.

A Few Pictures

2010-10-15T10:38:00.001-07:00

Last week Hannah and I went to lunch with Jake. When we got home I was fiddling on the lap top while Hannah was playing on the floor. Next thing I know I don't hear anything. Hannah fell asleep, on the floor. It wasn't even naptime yet. It has been at least a year since she has fallen asleep randomly not in her bed. So precious. She must have been totally exhausted. I was able to change her diaper and her pant's without waking her up. What a little sweetie.

Hannah and I snuggling on the couch after church.

A close-up of the pretty princess.

Hannah's Many Sleeping Positions Cont.

2010-10-15T10:19:00.001-07:00

Hannah has continued to surprise us with how many unusual position's we can find her in while sleeping. Here are some more examples:

This one crack's me up. Once again she is hanging onto the mattress for dear life. A rock climber in the making?? Great form sweetheart.

I like this one too.

Are you sure you are comfortable princess??

I love it when we catch her snuggling her buddies in her sleep.

So sweet that she is resting her head on her arm. This is one of the most normal position's we have captured her in.

What's not to love about this one?? Her little feetsies hanging out is my favorite. What you can't see from this angle is that Buster is laying on her head.

Snuggling again :-)

Hannah's Many Sleeping Positions

2010-09-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Before we go to bed Jake usually goes into Hannah's room to make sure she is sleeping comfortably and covered with her blanket if it is cool. Usually Hannah has a limb or two hanging out of the crib railing and Jake kindly adjusts her into a more comfortable position. The past few night's he has taken pictures of how he has found her sleeping. These pictures beg the question: "How is this comfortable?" Enjoy.

Night 1 Hannah has 3, yes 3 limb's sticking out of the crib. And the 4th limb is apparently holding onto the mattress for dear life.

Night 2 She is sprawled on her back with one foot in the air being supported by the rail. And her head shoved against the other rail.

Night 3 She is snuggling Bubba and her 2 babies. Precious. With one foot and an arm hanging out of the crib, and her other foot up in the air.

Night 4 Sprawled out like an eagle

The plan is to move her into a toddler bed by December...I'm thinking said bed better have some good rail's.

WE ARE HAVING A.....

2010-09-24T12:40:00.001-07:00

The gender ultrasound was this morning and we found out that we are having a baby BOY!!!!!! Crazy!!! I told Jake we can stop now that we got 1 of each :-) It was so fun seeing the little pumpkin squirm around. He is a gorgeous healthy little boy! Jake was just glowing when the technician announced that it was a boy. We are so excited. Hannah was just staring at the screen saying "baby! baby!" It was adorable. Grandma bought him his first little outfit's right after we found out. I am so excited to buy stuff in the boy section now! And we definitely can't wait to meet this little guy.

Now we need to start thinking of names. Any suggestion's????

Here are some pictures of the cutie:

Profile of his handsome little face

His little footsie

Perfect Bedtime Angel

2010-09-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight we did our usual bedtime routine: read books, sing song's, and say family prayer. After the prayer Jake gives Hannah a goodnight hug and kiss and then she comes to me to be rocked and sung to for a minute or two. But tonight was different.

Right before the prayer Hannah reached up toward her crib and started fussing because she wanted to get in. So she got in and laid down with her baby and Buster. We told her we were going to say prayer so she got up off her stomach and knelt with her arm's folded in the most angelic position you could ever see a child in. She stayed that way for the whole prayer. Following which she laid down and said "Nigh Nigh". We covered her up and left her bedroom. No lullaby. No rocking. She went to sleep like a big girl and a perfect bedtime angel.

Jake and I left the room and just stared at eachother in awe. Jake's response was "what are the chances of that happening again?" Haha.

My baby....my sweet Hannah.....please stop growing up so fast. Love, Mama

Sewing Project

2010-09-16T08:35:00.001-07:00

My friend Kelli (whose husband is in the same class as Jake) has a fabulous sewing machine and she offered to help me learn how to sew. I bought some organizing basket's and fabric for under Hannah's changing table about a year ago. But the fact that I don't have a sewing machine or any sewing skill's led to those organizing basket's cluttering up Hannah's closet for a long time. Earlier this week we started working on sewing the liner's and last night I finished them! I am so happy with how they turned out. Sewing is addicting! Now I can't wait to start another project and convince Jake that I need my own machine :-)

Here are the finished baskets:

Here is Hannah's changing table before:

And after:

Major improvement if you ask me. Thanks Kelli!!

Princess Dress-Up

2010-09-09T22:00:00.002-07:00

I just found out about a give away from the Princess Dress Up Closet. They make the most beautiful princess dresses for little girl's. I have been planning on getting a princess costume for Hannah to wear on Halloween this year, and one of these dresses would be perfect. Especially if it's free :-) So of course I had to sign up for it. I mean, wouldn't Hannah look ADORABLE in THIS dress? I hope I win. But if I don't, I hope when of you friend's win :-) Go HERE and enter to win one!

18 Weeks Pregnant

2010-09-05T15:31:00.001-07:00

This pregnancy is flying by! 18 weeks down, 22 week's to go. I don't think 22 week's is long enough....all I can think about is only 22 more week's of uninterrupted sleep. Ugh. I figure some of you are curious as to the development of this here baby bump. Unfortunately the little pumpkin isn't that noticeable yet. I wish I was like some of you ladies out there who look pregnant week's after conception. The nice thing is that I haven't had to wear maternity clothes yet. My jean's are a teensy bit snug but it is nice to still fit into them.

Jake felt the baby kick for the first time yesterday. It was exciting for both of us. I love feeling a little person inside of me. What an amazing thing we mother's get to experience. I have my first OB appointment in Moscow this week and soon we will find out the gender of this new little addition. I'm hoping for another girl :-) What do you guy's think it is?

Humor me and tell me I look 18 weeks pregnant :-)

The bump is more prominent in this picture.

New Home

2010-09-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

I promised to post pictures of our apartment. Well here ya go. We finally got things organized throughout the house. Yay. Last week I grabbed the nail's and hammer and hung up the pictures in our bedroom's. By myself. There is a first time for everything :-) For just eyeballing it I am very happy with how the wall hanging's turned out.

Our living room

Another angle of our living room

We have a sliding glass door with a balcony

Our balcony is HUGE! This picture doesn't do it justice. We could have a party out there.

Beautiful view.

Master Bedroom

Another Angle

Isn't this the perfect quote for above the bed??

If you couldn't tell this is Hannah's room :-) My next project is to sew some liner's for basket's to organize the changing table. It is hideous down there.

Hannah's crib. Notice all the toy's? We decided to keep most of them in her room from now on. Now we need to find a system for organizing them...

Her dresser and closet

She has a very big window in her room. So we bought these AWESOME drapes at Walmart that are supposed to keep it dark and decrease the noise.

The kitchen

Hannah's Wall :-)

Hannah making herself at home in daddy's office....

AND gym. What a lucky boy.

4th of July 2010

2010-09-02T14:33:00.001-07:00

I know I know. The 4th of July was 2 month's ago. Sheesh, don't rub it in :-) July and August were really busy for us, so this post has been delayed. A lot. But the fact that I haven't done this post yet has been nagging at me. And I feel like I NEED to do this post before this blog and I can move forward. :-)

This year we spent the 4th of July with Jake's family in Boise. We had so much fun! Hannah and I went to this fun park/water park with Mimi, Aunt Aubrey and her children. We ate Subway and supervised the children as they had a blast running around the park. It was the best free park I have been to.

Since the 4th fell on a Sunday this year we celebrated it on Saturday. Saturday morning we woke up and had a short flag ceremony. Following that we went to Cracker Barrel for a scrumptious breakfast. I had French toast. And it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

After breakfast we went to the Boise Temple to look at the beautiful ground's. Then we went to the theater where we saw Toy Story 3. Such a cute movie. Hannah did wonderful until she did #2 and never wanted to sit still again. Jake pretty much missed the ending. He is always so willing to take one for the team :-)

After the movie we took Hannah home so that she could take a nap before going to the Buckley's for a BBQ. They grilled fabulous steak's. Yum. And then we had homemade ice cream and brownies and finished it off by shooting off our own fire works. It was a fun night but by 11:30pm Hannah was beyond ready for bed. Thank you for a wonderful holiday weekend Mimi and Papa!

Below is a collage of pictures from the 4th. I got about 239853 pictures of Hannah and her cousin Katelyn holding hand's. It was so precious. You can also tell how much Hannah adores her Mimi and Papa. She doesn't give snuggles to just anyone :-)

David got hitched!

2010-08-28T12:53:00.001-07:00

My little brother David married his sweetheart on August 20th. Hannah and I flew out the week before so we could spend some extra time with family. Getting there was a bit of a pain. Our flight was supposed to leave Sunday afternoon, but when we got to the airport we were informed our flight was 3 hours late and they had to bump us off it because they couldn't get us a connecting flight to Sacramento that night. So Hannah and I had to wake up at 5am Monday morning to catch our 6:50am flight. Fun.

She did awesome the first flight to Seattle. But during our 2 hour lay over at that airport she was hard to control. I basically spent those hours chasing her around the airport. Sea Tac is a big airport. At one point in time I needed to use the restroom and she through the biggest tantrum including a Pterodactyl scratch to my face. Just a little embarrassing. And don't worry, she continued to be upset for part of the flight as well. Next time we are doing a direct flight. End of story.

So when we got to my parent's house and started getting ready for bed I was disheartened to find that my makeup bag, bathroom case, and hair straightener didn't make it back into my suitcase. Thank's to having to take those necessities out of my suitcase to get ready for my delayed flight. Thanks Alaskan Airlines. Luckily my mom was kind enough to share whatever makeup I needed and my dad ran to the store to get me a toothbrush, face wash, and deodorant. SO grateful for my Padres :-)

Wednesday night was Alaina's (David's Fiancé) Bridal Shower and it was so much fun. Thursday morning we all left for Oakland so that we could attend Alaina's endowment session in the temple. So amazing. A big thank's goes to my amazing sister-in-law's who watched Hannah for me :-) That night was the Rehearsal Dinner. My mom did an incredible job at planning and decorating for the occasion. There were about 50 people that attended and the food was delicious. It was the perfect dinner to pre-celebrate the beautiful day to follow.

Friday morning was their sealing. It was amazing. They both looked so gorgeous and most of all happy. Incredibly happy. We then took 983492803 pictures in front of the temple, haha. Hannah was sooooooo thrilled when it came time to take pictures, especially since it was right smack in the middle of her nap time. Hopefully she didn't ruin every picture she was in with that tearful little face. After the temple we all went to the Luncheon which was held at Mimi's Cafe. The food was great and it was fun to talk more with everyone who came to the temple that morning.

Jake flew in Saturday morning and my wonderful brother Paul was kind enough to pick him up at the airport on his way home from his friend's house in the Bay area. It was great to have Jake with us, Hannah and I missed him, a lot. That night was the reception. It was fun and beautiful. My favorite part was Alaina and David's first dance as husband and wife. It was so sweet. We had a wonderful time and I was so glad we got to be there to witness their Wedding Day. We wish you two all the happiness the world has to offer. Now they are in Hawaii, and I am soooo jealous :-)

Here are some pictures....I didn't have my camera at the Reception, but here are some pictures of the Rehearsal Dinner and at the Temple.

Hannah all dressed up for the Rehearsal Dinner

So pretty

Kiah and Emma being goof's :-)

The beautiful Bride and Groom

The happy couple with their parent's

Of course Hannah had to get her snuggles from Uncle Day

She was attached to his hip

Waiting for the newly married couple to join us outside the temple

Pictures with Grandma Geri

Hannah with her twin, Jane. Don't they look like sister's?

The look I got from David when I asked him to kiss his wife again for a picture, haha.

Husband and Wife

Such a beautiful and happy couple

My Bridesmaid Bouquet

David and his good friend Kyle Smith. What a good looking pair.

Hannah in her pretty dress.

Getting ready to take pictures in front of the temple

Back to School

2010-08-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

After a 3 year break from school Jake started up once again. Last week was his first week of medical school. Here he is heading out the door for orientation. Hannah and I left for California on his 1st day of classes, so this picture will have to do. Hannah of course wanted to get in on the picture taking.

Jake was very excited to take a picture

Of course Hannah wanted to get in the picture. Excuse the just-got-out-of-bed head.

And an adorable picture I took of Hannah. She is turning into a little girl!

The week of orientation there were picnic's in the evening for the medical student's and their families. We ate yummy barbecued food and met lot's of great people. Jake discovered that there are 4 other BYU graduates who are in his class. 2 of them are from Provo, 1 from BYU Hawaii, and the other from BYU Idaho. The 2 from Provo are also married and one of the couples has a 4 month old baby boy. It has been a lot of fun getting to know them and we are looking forward to becoming good friend's as we begin this long journey together.

At the first day of orientation the med student's went around and introduced themselves. The head of the program guy (Dr. Turner) mentioned that every year there is a baby born during the school year and they are referred to as the WWAMI Baby (WWAMI is the name of the program Jake is in for Med School). So when it was Jake's turn he stood up and one of the first thing's he said was "My wife and I will be having the WWAMI baby in February". Everyone laughed. From then on I have been known as the pregnant wife. When I came to the BBQ Dr. Turner came up to me and said that early February will be a great time for me to have the baby because there are no exam's until later that month. He also said that Jake can take a few day's off and have people take notes for him in class. I thought that was a very kind thing for Dr. Turner to say because of course I have been worried about Jake being there for me and this new baby. But he helped calm my fear's. Look's like there is nothing to worry about....right? :-)

Our New Home

2010-08-12T09:16:00.001-07:00

I miss Utah. I miss the mountain's. I miss our friend's. I miss the house we were house-sitting because it felt like home. I miss having family close and being a convenient drive away for family member's who lived further away. There are so many thing's I love about Utah. But Jake and I are starting to see how this new place can feel like home for us over the next year.

First of all, Moscow is gorgeous. It reminds me a lot of my home town in northern California. Lot's of green tree's, evergreen's and hill's. But here there are rolling hills of beautiful golden wheat field's too. So beautiful. There is more civilization than I anticipated as well, haha. There is a mall! Which I was totally not expecting. And even a Walmart! Which I kind of expected :-) It has a small town feel, because well, it is a small town. Jake and I both love that. The driver's here are so much more courteous and actually drive the speed limit. Unbelievable I know.

Secondly, we love our apartment. Our complex is a bunch of 4-plexes. We have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The bathrooms are fairly small, especially our shower which is basically a 2 1/2 foot square cubicle which seems to have been designed to improve flexibility :-) But our bedrooms are HUGE! So much bigger than we're used to. Jake will have plenty of study space in his office/workout room. And Hannah's bedroom has lots of space to keep her toy's from taking over the whole house. Yay. Our kitchen and living room are completely put together, even with pictures on the walls. The bedroom's need some work still. But I have plenty of time.

Jake started medical school today at the University of Washington. Well, technically it's just orientation. But it is all day today, tomorrow, and Saturday. They don't mess around. Saturday is an all day mandatory rafting trip. Nothing better than a team building exercise to help them get through the next few grueling year's. I am so excited for Jake. This has been his dream since the day I met him. I had only known him about an hour and I remember sitting across from him in the Wilkinson's Center at BYU when I asked him what profession he was pursuing. He said he wanted to be a doctor, specifically an anesthesiologist. And here he is, after 7 year's of hard work, living his dream. Now he just has 7 more year's of hard work :-) Wish us luck! We are embarking on quite the adventure. Stay tuned for pictures! As soon as I find where we packed our camera....

Wooohooo The Move Is Over!

2010-08-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

The past 10 days have been CRAZY. But the whole moving process was made one hundred times easier with the help of family and friends.

The first Monday in August Jake's mom drove up from Idaho to help us pack and to keep Hannah happy while Jake and I packed. I despise packing. It is especially hard if you procrastinate because you are in denial that you are actually moving and leave yourself a few day's to prepare :-) But the good new's is we got it done. Jake's mom was a great help and just the motivating factor we needed to get stuff done. My mom and brother David drove up after dropping off some furniture at David's new apartment in Rexburg for him and his soon to be wife. (My little brother is getting married! How can he be old enough? 23 is too young, hehehe) My dad was able to fly up the day before the big move. Basically we couldn't have gotten everything done that we needed to in such a short amount of time without our wonderful families. Our good friend's the Bellow's came over Thursday night to help pack. Jared helped move things out while Jen and her boy's kept Hannah entertained. Thanks friends!

We planned on pulling out of Provo with our 26 foot moving van on Friday morning. But we didn't actually make it to the car's until 5pm. And we were lucky to get out that early. My good friend Ashley came over to say bye but ended up staying to help us clean and do last minute packing for a few hours. I love that girl. She saved my sanity, haha. Friday was a rough day. 10 hours of packing and cleaning before a 6 hour drive. Ouch.

The drive to Moscow, ID is about 13 hours from Provo. But Jake's family lives in Boise which is almost exactly half way. Perfect. Hannah slept for 2 hours of the drive. Even more perfect :-) But when she woke up about 15 minutes before arriving at Jake's parent's house she was not happy. And cried pretty much the rest of the way. Quite the traumatic experience for my brother David who was in the car with Hannah and I. We got to their house about midnight and everyone but Jake got a good night's sleep. Jake had to wake up at 6am to head to Moscow because the property management company we rented through closes at 2pm on Saturday's. Thanks babe for taking one for the team :-)

Jake's mom had a wonderful big breakfast for us in the morning. We took it easy because we were in dire need of a rest. We ended up rolling out of Boise at about noon. After a few stops for snack's and lunch we made it to Moscow at 6:30. The drive didn't seem very long because it was SO beautiful. I loved it. Hannah did even better this time around. I owe a lot to my mom on that one. And Tigger and Pooh DVD's. My mom made sure Hannah had everything she needed when she needed it and even let us stop at a park for a little bit to let Hannah run out some energy.

When we pulled into our apartment complex Jake's cousin and her husband (who live in Moscow) were waiting with 5 or so guys from our new ward who were all there to help us move our stuff in. What a blessing that was. They got everything out of the moving van and into our place in an hour!! 1 hour! Incredible.

My parent's and David stayed in Moscow for a couple of days to help us get our furniture put together and in place. The morning they left for home they came to our apartment and cleaned for 2 hours. Now if that isn't love I don't know what is :-) That night Jake's parent's drove into town and they have been a great help getting settled in. They even babysat Hannah last night so Jake and I could have one last date night for a long while (Jake started medical school today). We went to the movies and finally saw Inception. Wow. What an intriguing story. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hannah has definitely enjoyed the visitor's and attention the past week or so. She is constantly saying B, Day, Mimi n Papa and Gama Geri. She sure loves her family. And so do we. We are truly blessed.

Ready or Not......

2010-07-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

....Baby #2 is on its way! Yup you heard right. We are expecting another little addition to the family. I am 12 weeks along. With a due date of February 5th...which just happen's to be the same day as my wonderful dad's birthday.

I remember a few day's after Hannah was born Jake asked, "When can we have another??". To which I replied "I'm thinking 1 is plenty". Having a newborn is hard physically, mentally, and emotionally. Sleep deprivation pretty much defines life those first couple of month's.

But once that little newborn becomes a toddler, you start to forget all those trial's and just reflect on the good things. Like the first time the little princess smiled at you, or started using her hand's to reach, or the first time she slept through the night, or that first little laugh that melted our heart's to pieces. I can't wait for those things to happen all over again. And to meet this little boy/girl for the first time and fall head over heal's in an instant.

There have been a few differences in pregnancies thus far. Morning sickness never really made an appearance when I was pregnant with Hannah. This one is a horse of a different color. It has been all day sickness with an emphasis in the afternoon and evening. Saltine cracker's quickly became my best friend. Now that I'm getting closer to the 2nd trimester I'm starting to get my energy back and I'm feeling a lot less nauseous.

Back when I was 9 week's pregnant I had my first doctor appointment and we got our first pictures of the little munchkin. It was so neat seeing his/her little heart beating strong and fast, and to see those little arm's flailing. We couldn't be happier.

And to keep with tradition here is Baby #2 Bump at 12 Weeks

Buster

2010-07-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

This adorable stuffed animal that Hannah is playing with is Buster (aka "Bubba").

Buster is Hannah's comfort object. She takes him e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Today I learned something new about Buster. This cute little stuffed dog is absolutely vital for Hannah to fall asleep.

Buster was in dire need of a wash and when she shoved him down by her dirty diaper in the middle of a diaper change I decided that no time was better than now. So I gave her a baby as a Buster replacement when I put her down for her nap.

Bad idea mom.

She played with baby for an hour in her crib. Apparently baby = playtime. She finally did fall asleep, but for a while there things were looking pretty hopeless. From now on Buster will A) stay off the changing table and B) never be washed when Hannah is going down for naptime/bedtime.

I have another realization to share. We need to invest in a back-up Buster.

"Come what may, and love it"

2010-07-08T09:59:00.001-07:00

Remember how yesterday was mine and Jake's Anniversary? Well, it kinda didn't turn out as planned. I shall give you 2 scenarios, and you take a guess which one really happened...

Scenario 1: Jake comes home from work at his usual time. He bring's home hand picked flower's and a sweet card. We BBQ steak, chicken, and veggies and eat in the backyard. We watch Hannah play in the sprinkler's and then go out for ice cream. After ice cream I take Jake to Lowe's (because he loves that store and we never go). When at Lowe's I surprise him by letting him pick out whatever wood and supplies he need's to build us something for our home (because he has always wanted to).

Scenario 2: Jake comes home from work at 4:30 sick and in pain. I give him time to rest and get him things he need's. He wasn't able to move from the couch until late in the evening. Hannah is out of sight for a few minutes and when she return's she hand's her dad a big wad of wet tissue. I go to the bathroom only to find the trash bin empty and the toilet bowl full to the rim with soiled soaking tissue. I put my gloves on and spend the evening picking out trash from the toilet, washing off the floor, and scrubbing down our little girl. Hannah and I walk to the store and on our way home stop for a snow cone which end's up spilling on my cell phone and damages it. Jake and I have a hard time falling asleep and don't get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning.

Which one did you pick?

Answer: Scenario 2

Needless to say it wasn't a great day. The day I pictured didn't happen. The celebration I hoped for turned into a normal day in the life of a young family. Jake is feeling much better today and I have managed to keep Hannah occupied so that another "incident" hasn't taken place. Yay.

As the day unfolded there were times I wanted to cry...I know pity poor me. But I realized how much I have to be greatful for. And if yesterday was the worst day ever, I still have it pretty good. There are mom's out there who go without eating to make sure their children have enough to eat, or husband's who go to war and have to leave their families, or homes where abuse and neglect take place, the list goes on and on...I have a lot to be thankful for.

I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday about all that was happening and she pointed out that she was glad I was laughing. Laughing is so much easier than crying. If you want to read a great talk on overcoming adversity go here and read Elder Wirthlin's talk titled "Come What May, and Love it". It is a talk that has stuck with me over the year's. I am so thankful to be a member of this church and to have modern day revelation that seem's to be instructions directed right at me.

4 Year's and Counting

2010-07-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

4 year's ago today Jake and I were married in the Oakland California Temple. What a perfect and special day it was. A great beginning to a wonderful marriage. I didn't think it was possible to love Jake more than I did that day, but I do.

Watching him become a father multiplied my love by about 9434789 times. He does so much for our family and still has the endless energy to play with our girl until bedtime. When he is home and Hannah has a dirty diaper he immediately changes it without being asked and even without a second thought. When he serves her, he is serving me. When he does the dishes he is pretty much winning over my heart all over again.

Yup, Hannah and I are lucky girls. He not only expresses love through service but verbally too. "I Love You" is definitely the most common phrase used in our house. I love that.

Thank you for 4 wonderful year's Jake! I can't wait to see how much more I will love you next year.

Hannah's 18 Month Portrait's

2010-06-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

When Hannah was 6 months old we took her to Fotogenix to get her pictures taken. Well, since they did such a great job last time we decided to take her there again. And we are so very happy with how they turned out. We paid an arm and a leg, but it is definitely worth it. Here are our Top 9.

I love this picture of her beautiful smile. It really captures her personality.

She looks like a model in this picture. She is gorgeous!

She basked in all the attention!

This should be in a magazine. Perfect. Check out those buff calf muscles!

So sweet.

Beautiful smile.

Happy little girl.

She is already a little dancer! Up on her toes with her graceful little arm.

Love this one too.

Moab with the Fam

2010-06-15T07:21:00.001-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Moab with my parents and brother. We made it a quick trip due to lack of available accommodations. We left Friday evening, stayed the night, and spent all day Saturday in Moab before leaving that night. It was a jam packed day and we wish we could have spent more time there, but we are so glad we got to go!

We had to wake up bright and early Saturday to get to our jet boat tour at 7:30am. Grandma Geri was kind enough to stay with Hannah while the rest of us went on the 6 hour tour. The tour guide stopped and showed us some amazing Native American petroglyphs that were drawn on the cliff walls along the road. The jet boat ride took us down the Colorado River into Canyonland's National Park. We saw some amazing rock formations and learned a lot of cool historical facts. Part way through the tour we stopped and took a short hike to see some petrified wood and other fossils. It was an incredible tour.

After the boat ride we met up with Grandma Geri and Hannah so we could eat some yummy grub before our Hummer Ride Excursion. David, Jake, and I went on the Hummer ride. And wow. The things a hummer can do. Like take us down 6 foot cliffs. Or up slick steep rock formations barely wider than the SUV itself. It was a beautiful ride and a bit scary at times. The driver was pretty funny and knew a lot of interesting facts. He even showed us some dinosaur footprints! The Hummer ride was probably our favorite part.

Before we headed home we drove through Arches National Park. It was too late to do any of the hikes to see the arches, but we were able to see them from the road and several look out points.

As you can tell we had a wonderful time. Thanks mom and dad for a fantastic trip! We miss you guys :-)

Native American Petroglyphs

So neat!

A view from the jet boat

David and dad enjoying the sights.

If you click on this picture to make it bigger you can see a tiny square hole in the mid section of the rock which was a Uranium mine

If you look closely you can see people at the top of that cliff. Crazy people to be exact :-)

We saw a TON of lizard's on our short hike to see the petrified wood

Petrified wood

Petrified wood frozen solid in what used to be a mud flow. Now it's a rock.

A big piece of petrified wood

Jake and I on the boat ride

The cliff on the left is where Tom Cruise filmed the first scene in Mission Impossible 2. Pretty cool!

Jake fell asleep on the boat. Just like that. Seriously.

Pyramid shaped rock formation

A picture on the hummer before we headed out

The initial ascent. Probably the scariest part of the whole ride. Mostly because there is a cliff on each side and the path looks narrower than the Hummer. But it was sweeeeeet!

A view from the hills of the little town of Moab. So pretty.

This is called Lion's Back. People used to be able to drive up it until there were a few accidents where people's brakes went out coming back down. Ouch!

Dinosaur footprint

Another dinosaur footprint

David during the ride

What we are about to drive up!

So gorgeous! Check out those paths we went on

Driving down a mini cliff

A view of the cliff after we drove down it. Now do you believe me when I say Hummer's are incredible machines?!

Another vehicle going down what we just did. Our wheel popped up like that in the back too.

Look how narrow and steep this is!

David hanging from the cliffs edge

David and I hanging onto the cliff

Jake and I holding onto the cliffs edge

Kodak moment during the Hummer ride

Family picture at Arches National Park

So amazing

Double Arch

Delicate Arch

Thanksgiving Point Garden's

2010-06-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit us at the end of May and one of the fun things we did together was go to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. What a beautiful place. It is amazing the landscapes that people can create. A few days before we went to Thanksgiving Point there was a snow storm (IN MAY, thanks Utah) so many of the flowers had died and were being replaced. It could have been so much more beautiful. We still had a ton of fun with Grandma and Grandpa and snapped some cute pictures.

3 Generations :-)

Running with Hannah on the grass

A beautiful man-made waterfall

Hannah and I

Cruising in our golf cart around the Garden's

Snuggles for Grandma Geri

The Secret Garden

Hannah and Buster (Bubba)

Beautiful girl

Beautiful view

Grandpa let Hannah "drive" the golf cart

So sweet

Adorable picture of these two kids :-)

18 Months Old!

2010-06-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

What?! Your kidding right? Our baby is 18 months old...a toddler...a little girl. Time flies, and we are enjoying every minute of this beautiful and precious girl.

What is Hannah up to you may ask? Well let me tell you a little about our growing girl.

She is such a talker! When she's not doing her adorable gibberish she is constantly surprising us with her ever increasing repertoire of words.

New Words
Der-he-ih = there he is
Gah-ih = got it
Duh Gee = Ducky
Bur = Bird
Baby = cutest word ever, she said it for the first time on April 29th when she was holding her baby
Mimi
Papa
Pooh
Bucka Buh = Uncle B = Jake's brother Brandon
Tanks = Thanks, she says this when she asks for something and we give it to her
Uh huh = says this while nodding yes
Nuh uh = usually accompanied by shaking her head
Nuh Nuh Nuh Nuh = No no no no which she says while shaking her finger vigorously at us
Caw = Car
Nana = Banana
Shuhsies = Shoesies and fishies
see = when she wants to give or show us something she will hold it up to us and say "see"
Ca ca = poopy, she said this the first time while Jake was changing her poopy diaper. Niether of us have ever used that word with her before. It is so funny cuz she says it in a whisper and loves to say it because it always makes us laugh.

Started making animal noises

Dog: She barks and pants every time she see's a dog in a book or in person
Snake: She has the cutest hiss
Duck : She says "Ca Ca"
Frog: "Reh beh"

Other skills

She loves to shake hands.
Just a couple of weeks ago started giving high fives.
Loves to run, slide down slides, and play with children (especially older children)
Loves to read. She read's by herself, loves to be read to, and if I am reading a book she will come over and point to a line and say some gibberish out-loud as if she is reading it too.
Loves shoes. She is constantly playing with our shoes and putting them on her feet. If I mention shoes she will find her "shuhshies" and take them to this stair by the door and wait with her foot up for me to put them on.
Recently starting climbing on everything! Now her reach has quadrupled in size.
Has developed quite the little attitude and rolls her eyes at us on occasion.
She has recently developed a strong attachment to her stuffed animal dog Buster (a character from Tigger and Pooh) She takes him everywhere and constantly asks for "Buba" and will start barking and panting as soon as he is mentioned. We decided to let her sleep with him and she loves it. Yesterday she woke up a little earlier than normal and started fussing. I watched her on the monitor as she noticed Buster was there and grabbed him into a big snuggle. She then proceeded to hold him and rock him back and forth saying "buubaaaa buuuubaaa". Within a couple of minutes she was back asleep. It was beyond precious.

There is so much to love about Hannah. I love her personality and her ever increasing affection toward us. In some ways its hard to believe she has only been in our lives 18 months. Mostly because she has completed our lives in so many ways. Happy 18 month birthday princess!!

Our camera is currently in route from my parents home in California back to us so I don't have any new pictures. But posts aren't as fun without a picture so I will share this little treasure. We caught Hannah with her hand in the cookie jar (empty doughnut box)

Southern California Trip

2010-05-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

WARNING: LONGEST POST EVER :-)

Last Sunday we got back from a week long vacation with Jake's family to Southern California. We had a blast! Based on this experience I have decided that going on a vacation with a little one make's the trip 100X more exhausting, but 10000X more worth it.

Day 1 Sunday: Flew to the Orange County airport, picked up our rental vans, drove to Marriott's Newport Coast Villas and tried to check in at 2 but our rooms weren't ready so we went to lunch at this cute little deli, finally checked in at 4pm, went to our AMAZING rooms with an ocean view, ate pizza, walked around the grounds, and vegged the day away :-)

View from our room

Another gorgeous view from our room

Day 2 Monday: Drove to San Diego and went to Sea World. It was a blast! We went on almost every ride, watched a bunch of fun show's including Shamu, Sea Lion's Live, Pet's Rule, and a 4-D Sesame Street movie. If you are wondering how a 4-D show works it is a 3-D movie that has special effects (water squirts out at you, the wind blows, bubbles fall from the ceiling) worked into the theater itself and interactive seats. It was way fun. Hannah kept her glasses on the whole time and loved it. The funnest ride we went on was Atlantis. It is a roller coaster/water slide. Pictured below:

We got to the park at about noon and stayed until closing. We got back to the hotel at about 8pm and went swimming before heading to bead.

Family Picture

Looking at the Flamingo's with Uncle B's help

Having fun

Hannah drenched her shorts in apple juice so she walked around bear legged while they dried. Only someone this cute could pull this style off.

Playing with her hat

Watching Shamu

Watching Pet's Rule

After the Pet's Rule show

Riding Elmo's Flying Fish

Enjoying the Sea Star Spin

Getting Dizzy

Yet still having fun

The crew coming down the big dip on Atlantis

Thanks to our pancho's we didn't get that wet

Day 3 Tuesday: 1st day at Disneyland! We got to the Park before it even opened, although there were a TON of other people there for their "Magical Morning" as well. The first thing we did was go to Fantasy Land and ride Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Snow Whites Scary Adventure. Those rides were mainly for little kids so I haven't ridden them in about 15 years. Having a little one gives us an excuse to be kids again. After those first few rides we got to be grown ups again an ride Matterhorn. The ride is a lot more jerky than I remembered. But way fun.

We then headed over to Tomorrowland where our nephew Trey lived out Jake's dream of being a Jedi. They have this cool Jedi Training Academy where over a hundred children are in the audience trying to get picked. Trey made a sign that said "Idaho needs more Jedi's" and he was lucky enough to get picked. He even got to battle Darth Vader while other kids battled Darth Maul. Way cool for Star War's fans. We also did Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear, and Autotopia (which Hannah fell asleep on, so cute).

After lunch we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, and the Winnie the Pooh ride. Hannah LOVES Winnie the Pooh, so you can guess which ride was her favorite. Jake took her on it at least 4 times. We are troopers and stayed until closing, quite the feat with 4 kids 5 and under.

Mimi and Hannah in line for Peter Pan

Trey battling Darth Vader

Scary Darth Maul

Asleep while riding Autotopia with Jake and I

Splash Mountain was a ton of fun

On The Buzz Lightyear ride. Jake beat my score, but on a similar ride I come out on top :-)

The cousins on the honey pots at Critter Country. Mimi bought the girls those cute little matching disney outfits.

Macy can't get enough of Hannah. Here she is kissing Hannah's head. I think I know where her sister Katelyn gets the affection from :-)

Having fun

They are stroller buddies

Day 4 Wednesday: We slept in and took it easy by the pool until around 2pm. Our original plan was to drive to Universal Studios to spend the evening there but we found out it closed at 5pm that day (thanks Cindo de Mayo) while we were driving there. So we turned around and headed back to the hotel. We decided to go to Laguna Beach and play around in the sun. That was hampered by the clouds that moved in making it kinda chilly. So we took our party indoors to Las Brisas, a very nice Mexican Restaurant.

The boys playing frisbee at Laguna Beach

Snuggles on the beach with mama

Family Picture

Day 5 Thursday: Disneyland Round 2! We started the morning off at California Adventure. I had never been to this new area of Disneyland so I thoroughly enjoyed it. We went on Soarin' Over California like 3 times (SO FUN), Grizzly River Run (a whitewater rafting adventure, Jumping Jellyfish, Maliboomer (it shoots you straight up 18 stories in 4 seconds and drops you back down and up...you get the picture), rode California Screamin twice in a row, and rode Toy Story. After having a bunch of fun for the older kids we took the children over to Bugs Land to ride some kid friendly rides. California Adventure was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. We then walked over to Disneyland to eat some grub and ride Space Mountain. Jake had never been on it before, so it was fun to see how much he enjoyed it.

Hannah and Katelyn waiting patiently for the majority of the big kids to get off a ride

They are so cute together

On a ride at Bugs Land

Playing with the water at Bugs Land

Day 6 Friday: Disneyland Round 3 + Jake's Birthday! We slept in and hung out by the pool. We celebrated Jake's birthday with a late lunch at the Bluewater Grill. Wow. Best Mahi ever. We headed over to Disneyland in the afternoon. We went to California Adventure first to catch the last showing of Aladdin (Awesome) and ride the Tower of Terror. Loved both. After Tower of Terror we walked over to Disneyland to ride some more rides before the fire works. We took Hannah to Fantasy Land and rode Storybook Land Canal Boats and Casey Jr. Train. Then we met up with Jake's family to eat dinner and watch the fireworks. It was an amazing display. I loved how Tinkerbell was involved in the show flying around over the castle. Hannah slept through the whole show, which I'll never understand because it was LOUD. It was fun to celebrate Jake's 28th birthday at Disneyland. What a great day, and guy :-)

Mama and Hannah getting some pool time

Katelyn is such a love to Hannah. She is constantly giving her hugs and kisses. In this picture they are holding hands.

Hugs

Day 7 Saturday: Universal Studios. Jake took his parents to the airport that morning and afterwards the rest of us drove to Universal Studios. The first thing we did was the Studio Tours which was incredible. The only thing that was lacking is the King Kong part of it which opens up in July. Yup, we missed the fun by 2 months. Oh well, it was still awesome. Then we saw Shrek in 4-D which was way cool. Based on this trip I've decided that 4-D shows are awesome. They should make all movies 4-D :-) Then we rode Jurassic Park and Revenge of the Mummy twice. I Loved the Mummy ride. It really takes you by surprise. We were all pretty exhausted by this point and decided to eat some dinner before heading back to the hotel. We ate at Tony Roma's and Hannah fell asleep while we were waiting for a table. She was playing with Uncle Brandon's hat and the next thing we knew she was asleep with the hat over her face. Soooo adorable.

Katelyn snuggling Hannah while waiting for in line for Studio Tours

So Sweet

Hannah smiling at Daddy and Uncle B as they were finishing up the Jurassic Park Ride

Family picture with a beautiful background

Hannah asleep with Uncle B's hat

Day 8 Sunday: Flew back to Utah. Sad. I loved the trip to California. We had a blast. Thank you Aubrey and Mike for the fantastic accommodations and thank you Lanette and Jerry for the plane and park tickets! We couldn't have had a better time.

Spontaneous Trip Home

2010-04-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hannah and I flew home to California to visit my family for 5 days. We left the 16th, which was the day after my birthday (I am now 1 quarter of a century. Wow). My little brother David was on a break from school, so he was home too. It was fun to spend time with my family.

Mom and David picked us up from the airport and then we ate some yummy Japanese food. There was this cute store next to the restaurant, so we went in and my mom bought me some cute necklaces, bracelets, and a sweater. (Jake broke my favorite bracelet so she was trying to replace it.) Yay for shopping. When we got home my nieces were there waiting to play. They stayed the night with us and we definitely played hard.

On Saturday I went out to lunch with my good friend Melissa while Hannah was napping. She is getting married in a week so not only were we catching up on each other's lives but we were discussing fun wedding plans. I am so excited for her.

Sunday we went to church and then Hannah and I met Melissa and her fiancé at Bidwell Park to play and chat. Later that evening David's cute girlfriend Alaina came over and we made funnel cakes. It was yummy.

On Monday David flew back to Rexburg for school. Punk. Hannah and I had the house to ourselves. We went out to dinner that night at the BEST steak restaurant in town, 5th Street Steakhouse. After dinner Hannah and I stopped by my brother Justin's house to see his family one more time before we left.

Tuesday we just hung out at home and then went out to dinner. The next morning we drove to the airport and said goodbye to Grandma. Hannah had a hard time saying bye to Grandma. They love each other a lot. But we will see them again soon. Thanks for the fun and relaxing trip Grandma and Grandpa!

Hannah with her cousin's Emma and Elissa

Hannah didn't feel very photogenic

Mommy and Hannah in front of the beautiful flowers at my parents house

"Look mom, a stick!"

Dan and Melissa with Hannah at the park

David and Hannah saying goodbye for now

Hannah eating a yummy lunch. She loved her first corn dog.

Grandma and Grandpa playing with Hannah after dinner

She loves eating with silverware and is getting pretty good at it

The CUTEST smile ever

Mommy and Hannah

Grandma and Hannah before heading to the airport

Car ride home from the airport. You can tell she was excited to see daddy again.

Recipe for Thai Lovers

2010-04-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

My friend Ashley bought an amazing Asian cookbook and she let me go through and find some recipes to try. This one is a keeper. Jake loved it and started thinking of people we could make it for.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Holy Basil (Pad Kaprao Gai)

1/3 C Vegetable Oil
1/3 C chopped Garlic (I used less because that seemed like a lot and I'm not a huge garlic fan)
4 t chopped fresh Thai bird chiles (My hubs has a sensitive tongue so I didn't use any, it still tasted great)
14 oz minced chicken
2 T fish sauce
2 T soy sauce
1 C green beans cut in half and blanched
1 C Holy/Thai basil leaves (I used regular fresh basil)
4 eggs
1 qt steamed rice

1. Heat 2 T of veg oil in a wok or medium saucepan over high heat. Stir-fry the garlic and chiles until the chiles turn yellow, 1-2 mins.
2. Add the chicken to the wok and stir-fry until cooked, about 2 mins.
3. Remove the wok from the heat and season the chicken with the fish sauce and soy sauce.
4. Add the green beans to the mixture and stir in the holy basil leaves. Reserve warm.
5. Heat a small sauté pan over medium heat and add 2 T of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the eggs to the pan and fry until the whites are cooked through but the yolks are still runny, 2-3 mins.
6. Place the stir-fried chicken with the holy basil and fried egg on top of the steamed rice. (Serves 4)

Sooooo yummy.

Last night I made this with Indian flat bread (Naan).

4 C & 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t sugar
1 egg
1/4 C milk
1/4 C plain yogurt
2 T melted butter or veg oil
3/4 t yeast
1-1 1/4 C warm water

1. Mix all ingredients except water in bowl.
2. Gradually add water and knead until smooth, soft dough is achieved, about 10 mins.
3. Set aside for about 6 hours in warm place.
4. Make tennis ball-sized pieces of dough, and place balls in warm place until they rise again, about 1 hr.
5. Preheat oven to 475.
6. Flatten each dough ball and spread it with a rolling pin or by hand by tossing and slapping with both hands. Gently stretch each piece of dough into a round 7 inches in diameter, so that the center is 1/4 inch thick and there is a border 1/2 inch wide all around.
7. Place bread onto parchment paper-lined sheet pan and brush with a little butter.
8. Place the naans in the oven until golden brown and puffed, 4-5 mins.
9. Garnish with butter. (Make's 8)

For breakfast this morning I took one of the Naan's and melted butter on it and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar. Wow.

Family Vacation

2010-04-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

3 weeks from today we will be flying to California where we will stay in these lovely beach-side villas:

And swim in this scenic pool:

So that we can enjoy 3 days at the Happiest Place On Earth:

As well as a day here:

A day here:

And a day here:

We are going to Southern California on a week long vacation with Jake's family. Can you tell that I am excited? We have been planning this vacation for about a year. The only reason we are able to go is because all we have to pay for is most of our food and half of a rental van. Did I mention that Jake and I have wonderful families who are extremely generous? Cuz we do.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. I am so grateful for my Savior and this holiday we have to celebrate Him and His victory over death. Since Easter Sunday was General Conference, Hannah wore her Easter dress to church last week. She looked beautiful in the dress Grandma Geri bought her.

On Easter Sunday Hannah woke up to Easter egg's all over the floor, an Easter basket full of goodies, and a new toy (pictured below). What a spoiled little girl :-)

Growing Up

2010-03-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today was the first time ever that I put Hannah down for her nap without nursing her first. She went to sleep without a fuss. She seems to be more ready for this than I am. I have a feeling that weaning is more for us moms because apparently she is fine without it. What happened to my baby???

Reading Binge

2010-03-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

I was never much of a reader until September of 2007, when I was first introduced to the Twilight series. I was surprised when I read the whole series in a week. These days, reading is one of my favorite things to do. These are the books I've read over the last 6 weeks.

My favorite of these books would have to be the Mortal Instruments Series (City of Bones, Ashes, and Glass). I couldn't put them down. My husband kept complaining that all I did was read. I knew I was obsessed, but I couldn't stop reading. It was like being in the middle of a really great movie and being asked to stop it and take a break. No one wants to pause a great movie. I would highly recommend that series for anyone interested in a great read. The Hunger Games and Catching Fire were very good. A little violent, but a great story. I'm excited for the 3rd book in the series to come out in August. The Dark Divine and Hourglass Door were also very fun reads. I'm excited about their sequels coming out within the next year, soooo excited. The Other Queen was OK. I've never read a historical fiction before, so it was fun to read about people that really existed. Dear John was sad. I think I liked the movie better. If you haven't seen Dear John, you should. Great movie. The ending is better in the movie, the book just leaves you all depressed. The soundtrack is also a must. Awesome music.

And that is Gretchen's book review. Up next in my reading list is the Constant Princess, The Last Song, and Rough Stone Rolling. Any suggestions that I should add to the list?

Prayer

2010-03-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Hannah showed us just how much she is learning through observation. She was sitting on my lap during Sacrament and as the prayer started (without being told to) she folded her arms, bowed her head, and stayed that way until the prayer was over. What a sweet little angel. Jake and I couldn't believe what we were witnessing. She knew through example how to be reverent for a prayer. We feel so blessed to have this amazing little girl in our lives.

Family and Brian Regan

2010-03-23T10:43:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Jake's family drove up from Idaho so that we could all go to Brian Regan's live concert in Salt Lake City. Thursday night was the show and it was amazing. Brian Regan is hilarious. If you have never heard of him go here. This was our second time attending one of his live concerts and he did not disappoint. Within the first minute I was laughing so hard I was crying, and by 5 minutes my stomach was in pain from laughing so much.

I took this picture of Brian and the following videos with my cell phone. I don't know why but the video is sideways....if someone knows how to fix it please let me know.

We had a friend babysit Hannah and her 3 cousins while we all went to the show. It was hard to leave her but she did great for the sitter and we had a wonderful time. Jake's sister and her family stayed with us for a few days. It was fun watching all the children playing together. Hannah's cousin Macey just loves her to pieces. Macey even told her mom when they got home that she wants to come live with Gretchen. What a little sweetheart. It was so fun having family in town. And we can't wait for our trip to Disneyland with them in 6 weeks! Woooo hooo!

Katelyn and Hannah sharing a toy. Katelyn is 1 month older than Hannah.

An attempt to get a picture of all 4 kiddos before bed.

I used some hairspray and scrunched the back of Hannah's hair. It looked adorable.

Our happy girl.

15 Months Old!

2010-03-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

My baby girl is over 15 months old. Where does the time go? Yesterday I took her to the pediatrician for her check up. After reviewing Hannah's stats the doctor said Hannah was the tallest 15 month old he has ever seen. I'm not sure what to think of that. I guess I should be happy that we have a future MVP basketball/volleyball player on our hands. We're just happy that she is happy and healthy and that her body is reaching its best and tallest potential :-) Here are her stats.

Height: 34 inches = 97th % (She is the average height of a 2 year old)
Weight: 25 lbs 9 oz = 75th-90th %
Head: 97th %

What she is up to:

New Words:

Her vocab skills are improving everyday. It seems like she says a new word each day. She now has a vocab of about 20 consistent words.

"Te-ooh" = Tigger and Pooh. She still loves to watch Tigger and Pooh.

"Bubba" = Buster. He is the little dog on Tigger and Pooh. Uncle David got her Buster for Christmas and she calls him Bubba.

"Cheese" = She loves to eat string cheese and I love hearing her say it when she wants it. She also says it when she is smiling for a picture.

"Baa Baaa" = Bye Bye. She says bye when someone leaves the house or when she is getting off the phone/skype.

"Juuu" = Juice. She loves juice. Apple, orange, mango-orange, V8 Splash...you give it to her, she will drink it.

"Nie Nie" = Night Night. She has the cutest way of saying goodnight. Whenever we ask her if she is ready for her nap or bedtime she will say "Niiiee Niiieee". It is adorable.

"Ticka Ticka" = Tickle Tickle. I tend to tickle her while I am changing her diaper and now when I stop doing it she puts her hands up on her chest and tickles her self saying "ticka ticka".

Sleeping:

For the past couple of weeks (*Knock on Wood*) Hannah has been sleeping through the night consistently. Most nights she will wake up once and fuss for a few minutes, but eventually she falls back asleep on her own. It is sooooooooo nice to finally not have to go to bed worrying about how the night is going to go.

She was taking two naps a day until just a couple of weeks ago. It was becoming such a task to try to put her down twice a day and often times she would just play in her crib for hours during her afternoon nap and never fall asleep. So I decided she was trying to tell me she was ready for one nap. After the switch she is doing fabulous.

Nursing:

Still nursing. Right after the post on her biting me she stopped. It was like she knew that I complained about it and didn't want me to take it away. She nurses 3 times a day and I love it.

Toys:

Daddy bought her a new favorite toy. It is a Little Tikes car. You know the cute red ones with the yellow roofs? She LOVES it. The day we got it she quickly figured out how to get in and out of it and loves to sit in it and wave out the window saying "Baaa Baaa!"

And that is our 15 month old in a nut shell. She is a happy girl and such an easy baby. She came to my tap performance this past weekend and behaved better than most adults in the audience. She just sat on her grandmas lap and watched and smiled and clapped while we were dancing. I loved looking out into the audience and seeing my girl enjoying the show. I already can tell she has a love for dance, and I am so happy I get to share that love with her. Thanks for entering our life and making our world a better place. I love you princess!!

Tap Company Performance

2010-02-20T11:16:00.001-08:00

Here is the flyer for our upcoming performance.

Here is the press release for the performance.

Footwork: An Evening of Tap Dance

Rich sound and fascinating rhythm will ring out as Footwork: An Evening of Tap Dance takes the stage at the Post Theater on March 6th. Debby Robertson and members of SLCTap, along with Colleen West and the Foot Poetry Tap Dance Ensemble will perform on Saturday March 6th at 7:30 p.m. at the Post Theater at Fort Douglas on the University of Utah campus.

Robertson and West have shared producer duties before, in last year's RDT Sponsored "LINK" series event entitled Footwork: An Evening of Percussive Dance. Whereas that performance explored all genres of percussive dance, this will be the first ever to focus entirely on classic and contemporary tap dance. The stage at the Post Theater is especially appealing to tap dancers for its resonant wood floor, (unusual for dance performance spaces) allowing the intricate footwork to be clearly heard and fully appreciated.

Known for her technique and knowledge of classic tap, Robertson and her group will perform a 1930's vaudeville-era work, a classic soft-shoe routine by the famed "class act" duo of Honi Coles & Brenda Bufalino, as well as a complex a capella quartet. The Foot Poetry Ensemble will display their youthful exuberance and technical chops in a lively Latin piece choreographed by West, a witty disco-dance parody and a modern tap/hip-hop inspired piece.

Ouch

2010-02-15T20:55:00.001-08:00

Personal post, continue with caution :-)

Hannah is just over 15 months old and I am still nursing her. Breastfeeding has been such a wonderful experience for me but lately it has not been so enjoyable. Every once in a while Hannah will have a day where she will bite me when I go to nurse her and continue to do so every time I offer it to her. She does have another tooth coming in so I know her gums are having a rough time but this biting thing needs to stop. Whenever I go to nurse her now I am hesitant with a finger ready to break her death grip of a bite. Any advice out there from you mother's who had/have babies who bite while nursing? I don't know what to do to discourage her because apparently my method isn't working. I'm so frustrated and I just wonder if maybe she is telling me she is ready to wean. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Dancing Hannah

2010-01-22T17:17:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago Hannah started dancing every time we turned on Body Language by Jesse McCartney. Apparently it is her favorite song. The surprising thing about her dancing is that I never "taught" her how to dance. She just started doing it on her own. Originally her dancing included walking on beat in circles to the music, then she added bouncing and head nods, and finally some hand movements. We love turning on her song to see what she will do. I can't wait to enroll her in a dance class a couple of years from now. She will be unstoppable :-)

In this first video she starts bouncing at the beginning and at 28 seconds she really starts moving to the beat.

Hannah Dancing from Gretchen Pollard on Vimeo.

In this video she dances pretty much the entire time.

Hannah Dancing 2 from Gretchen Pollard on Vimeo.

In this last video Hannah thinks I am taking a picture so she smiles for the camera. She dances for the first 45 seconds of the video.

More Dancing from Gretchen Pollard on Vimeo.

Answered Prayers

2010-01-12T15:11:00.001-08:00

My husband is not one to boast of his achievements, therefore I do his boasting for him :-) For those of you who read my blog, you know that Jake has been in the process of applying to medical school for the past 2 years. Well....to be precise this long road began 6 years ago because that is when he first decided he wanted to pursue medicine. He went to his academic advisor at BYU and told him his goal of becoming a doctor. His advisor, you know the one that is there to help you achieve your dreams, looked at his grades up to that point (I believe he was a sophomore) and told him that his GPA was not good enough.

Jake walked away from that meeting thinking medicine was out of the question and began looking into other options. He switched his focus to predental, then he decided to go into research and become a professor, and lastly he looked into being a pharmacist. Nothing felt right. And finally he decided that doing anything else would feel like settling for something that he just didn't want to be.

He applied to medical school last year for Fall of 2009. The only school he applied to was the University of Washington. He applied late and didn't even get an interview. I was discouraged but Jake was optimistic that if he sent in his application earlier that he would get an interview. So we waited another year and he applied again. This year he has been invited to interview at 7 schools. He interviewed at 6 of them and just recently turned down the 7th. He turned down an interview because today his aspiration became a reality.

He interviewed at the University of Washington a week ago. They only select 20 Idaho residents into their school of medicine. Today they accepted their top 4/5 applicants. Jake was one of them. I am so proud of him. It has been a long road full of many prayers and dissapointments, but today he is one step closer to achieving his goal. We feel so blessed. Medical school will of course be a challenge, but I have no doubt in my mind that he will rise to the occasion just like he always has. Thank you Mr. Mean Hearted College Advisor for possibly giving my husband the push he needed in the right direction by telling him he couldn't do something. Because guess what dude, he did it.

Tap Company Performance

2010-01-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

The Tap company I am on (Foot Poetry Tap Dance Ensemble) is performing at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo this Saturday, January 9th. There is a matinee show at 2pm and an evening performance at 7pm. We are performing with a variety of teams featuring many forms of percussive dance. The other companies we are performing with are the Rocky Mountain Express Cloggers, Extreme Rhythm Cloggers, High Performance Studios, and the Shelley School of Irish Dance. Ticket's are $10 and went on sale January 1st and are going fast. You can call the ticket office at 801-852-7007 or you can go here to order tickets online. It is going to be an amazing show. I hope all of you friends in the area are able to come!