Ponderize, Week 3

Ponderize, Week 4: "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job 3:4

Monday, December 30, 2013

Too Much Fun

We had planned on taking a group sailing lesson while we had visitors for Thanksgiving/Kate's blessing, but because it was raining the morning of our reservation, we didn't get to go.  This was a major let down for Paul, who had been looking forward to strapping himself to the mast and shouting "I SAIL!" a la Bob from What About Bob.  Who would have thought that the weather would be bad?  I mean, ever. But despite not being able to sail, we still had a lot of fun. 

We rode a surrey:


Went to the tide pools:







We toured Paul's office and Trudy got a checkup:




We hung out at the hotel that Grandpa Norm, Grandma Sue, John and Trudy stayed at on Coronado:


 Parker got a kick out of this duck in the pool.  Can you see the Coronado bridge in the background?



 I love these pictures John took of Kate and her Grandma Trudy:




We went and saw the lights at the San Diego temple:




 

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Kate's Blessing

Last Sunday we blessed Kate and we were lucky to have many of our loved ones in attendance, although it was brought to my attention that the showing was a good example of second baby syndrome- there were definitely more people at Parker's blessing.  Our next child will be lucky if even Paul and I decide to show up for his/her blessing.  Well, I went through the ol' blog archives to see who was at Parker's blessing and found that I never blogged about it!  Let the record show that he was in fact blessed by Paul on May 15, 2011 and here's a picture to prove it:


When Parker was blessed I was so proud that I was able to time his feeding just before we left for church so that he would be content during his blessing.  And I was feeling pretty good that I had done the same for Kate.  However, we have church at 1:00 and Kate had already been woken up from several naps that day... I can't remember exactly why, but no doubt one of the reasons was Parker's talent at waking the dead through screeching.  If you know Parker then you know what I'm talking about.  She had fallen asleep on the car ride over to the church and after taking her our of her carseat we didn't have enough time to soothe her back to sleep before it was her time in the spotlight.  Anyway, she cried through the whole thing.  I like to think that she was just giving Paul a few suggestions on what she wanted to be blessed with.  A few minutes later she was fast asleep and stayed that way for the rest of the meetings.  We took a few pictures after Sacrament Meeting, but let her stay asleep.  After church we woke her up to take more pictures- we couldn't leave without taking pictures of her beautiful blessing dress.  This dress, lovingly made by Paul's sister, Dakin, was simply stunning.  Honestly, the first time I saw it, it took my breath away.

Words can't properly express how thankful I am that Kate is in our family.  Going from one to two kids is no joke, but I can't imagine her not being here.  Our family would not be complete without her sweet little spirit.

(Front to back, left to right: Grandpa Norm, Parker, John, Trudy, Grandma Sue, baby Kate, me, Paul, Grandma LeAnn, Grandpa Bob)






Parker and Kate were both about three months old when they were blessed.  Here they are with Grandma Trudy on their special days.  I wish we had gotten a better picture of Parker's little outfit.  Trudy made it for him and it was absolutely darling!  I definitely think that Parker and Kate look like siblings, but they each have their own unique look.    


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Trains!

It's no secret that Parker loves trains.  While my dad has been visiting, we've been to the model train museum (the largest in the US) and we built a gingerbread train.  Choo choo!!!



Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Thanksgiving

We had one of the best Thanksgiving dinners on record... sooooo delicious!  We went to Paul's aunt Karen's house where we had dinner with her family, Paul's parents and Grandpa Norm.  Karen made the dinner and Trudy and I supplied the desserts- chocolate pecan pie, Dutch apple pie and a layered toffee pumpkin cheesecake.  Isn't Thanksgiving the best?!  Good food, good company, fun games.  I love it!