Expressions of Anna

This kid gets cuter and cuter every day. Of course that comes from a biased opinion; maybe in all reality she has a mug only a mother could love. Either way, this mother's lovin' it!

Vain Much?

This video cracks me up. This is Sueann playing with Anna (who is apparently quite pleased with herself):

Generations

During our Thanksgiving trip to Idaho, we were to be able to make the rounds to some of Anna's "great" relatives that she hadn't met yet! This was very special to me in particular because I only have one memory regarding any of my great grandparents (a funeral). I hope she is able to spend time getting to know them so she can have wonderful memories to cherish!

Here is Eldon Croft, Anna's father's, father's, mother's father - her great great grandfather! Our first son, whenever he comes along will be named after him. He was so cute feeding Anna while he told me faith promoting stories of his experience being called as Elder's Quorum President after years of inactivity.

There were a few times when the bottle would drift away from her mouth, and she would attempt to recover it with her lips, but she never fussed while "Grandpa Eddie" and I talked of the past. :) Grandpa Eddie and my great grandfather, Henry Hill used to work together in the sheep industry. Eddie had the sheep, and Henry sheared them. I think it's so special that Jared's and my history is intertwined with family that served one another.

This is Anna's father's father's mother and father; Grandpa Eddie's daughter and son-in-law, whom he converted to the Gospel. Anna was in love with a little African doll with beaver fur hair that Grandma Gardner played with.

This is Anna's father's mother's mother and father. Anna was greatly entertained by a pair of singing penguins that Grandpa Smith pulled out of his toy stash!

Anna comes from such a wonderful heritage, it was such a blast spending time with all of our family over Thanksgiving!

My Little Reader

About a month ago, when Anna was 4 months old, I thought, "Okay, it's time to start reading to her because she can now focus on the pages and touch/hold things pretty well." I already had a couple of books for her, but I decided to go to the library to find some of the "touch and feel" books. There wasn't any, but there were some books on baby faces and bodies. I sat with Anna and started to talk to her while holding the pages open. I was shocked at how attentive she was! She sat there helping me hold the pages as I talked about what was on them. I would point, and she would follow my hands with her hands. It was a really fun time with her. Well, since then, I have found that I like the cardboard books, especially the "touch and feel's", but I really love the plastic books! Anna can drool on them, drop them in the dirt, bend them backwards, crinkle the pages, and they are still in prime condition! We both love them! She likes to "read" on our walks in the morning after she's had a good look around.

Kids at Heart

Saturday we went to the Children's Museum in Phoenix with Grandma, Dallin, Lisa, Hayden, Cody, Christine and Evelyn. It was really fun, and here are some of the highlights: Firstly, Hayden became awestruck when he first walked into the large room full of brightly colored tunnels and domes, and needed some convincing by Lisa and Grandma to come and actually play with everything. Granted, he had just woken up from sleeping in the car...Evelyn needed little convincing as she dove right into playing and climbing all over everything.

Here's Evelyn finishing up at the "car wash"; surprisingly, both came out without a drop of water.

Anna had lots of fun just watching and listening to all the commotion, especially from her perch in Grandma's arms!

More trinkets everywhere we turned!

Then, best of all, we had a little hula hoop competition:

Grandma won, hands down!! It was tons of fun!!

Happy Halloween!

For Anna's first Halloween, she was a pink leopard. And, for anyone that knows me, that's only because it was given to us for our baby shower. I never would have spent money on such a thing, but, she makes it cute. Our ward has a yearly Fall Festival so we went to that. I was tempted to take her around Friday night just so Jared and I could get lots of free candy, but I decided that might not please our neighbors. Anyway, the little outfit was complete with ears, a face on the hood, and of course, a tail. Wee!

I Have Toes!

So, a few weeks ago, Anna started grasping her knees when she was on her back, and slowly, she worked her way up until she was able to find her toes. Now, it's her ultimate obsession. Any time she's on her back, particularly when she's naked, she plays with her toes. It's the cutest thing, and it's so helpful when I'm changing her diaper, but not so helpful when I'm trying to get her pants on! :)

Update

Well, Anna is almost four months old. She is now fairly stable with her sleep pattern: bed at 7, I wake her for a bottle around 10, and then she doesn't usually wake until 7. It's been VERY nice! She sits up on her own for maybe 2-5 seconds before falling over, but with support she does really well. She now giggles and shrieks when we play with her, and likes to talk when her hands are in her mouth (we'll have to fix that before she starts dating...). She rolls over still easily from belly to back and last week she did back to belly, but only once. She's such a big girl when we take her on walks; she doesn't even use the car seat in the stroller any more! Anyway, things are going very well!

Camping

The family went camping last weekend at Workman's Creek, just above Roosevelt Lake. It was really beautiful and the weather was perfect. It got a little cold the first night (into the 40's), but I couldn't believe how well Anna slept. The day was a little different; Jared wasn't able to go (clinicals and working), so I had my hands full most of the time. Anna didn't seem to feel the need to nap with so much excitement going on, so the day was a little rough. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted, but here are a few fun ones! Christine playing the perfect Aunt!
Mom playing the perfect chef!
Evelyn and Anna just playing!
The next pictures were taken before we left; Anna went shopping and bought some totally awesome new boots for the camping trip. I loved them, and they were a great price, so I didn't make her take them back... Plus, she just was so happy in them (especially in her ridiculous outfit...). I took them with my phone so the quality isn't as good. Sorry. I also think I was laughing too hard to get a steady picture for the last one. I love that we can do ridiculous things to our children and they have no idea.

Another Tag

Well, until I get the desire to download our other pictures, I will just follow up with a tag from Emilee, and I'll answer for both Jared and I:

A-attached or single? Attached (at the hip...)/attached...unhappily..hee hee.
B-best friend? My hubby-bubby/Kenna
C-cake or pie? Definitely cake, not a huge fan of pie/ooh, that reminds me, I have some pie in the freezer...so, pie.
D-day of choice? Saturday/ Mondays, that's the day we get to spend together.
E-essential item? There's not really much I can't do without/McKenna
F-favorite color? Blue/Green
G-gummy bears or worms? Worms/worms...they last longer
H-hometown? Don't have one/Idaho Falls
I-indulgence? I'm a chocoholic/cars
J-January or July? Definitely July, even in AZ/January, it's not hot.
K-Kids? Anna-banna-bonanna/Anna
L-Life isn't complete without? Relationships/McKenna
M-marriage date? 11/25/2002/excuse me? no, don't put that. It's 11/25. I thought you said Marriage or Date?
N-number of brothers and sisters? 3 big bro's, and when I say big, I only mean older.../I have 3 sisters, no brothers...well, 3 brothers in law, does that count?
O-oranges or apples? Apples, they are cleaner to eat/Oranges
P-phobias? Bears, bears and more bears/I don't know what I'm afraid of...heights, I'm afraid of heights.
Q-Quotes? "Falling flat on your face is still moving forward."/"I know, right?" (said like Mean Girls...)
R-reasons to smile? Family/McKenna
S-season? Summer/McKenna..haha, okay, Winter.
T-tag...anyone who desires to do this one/no
U-unknown fact about me? I sucked my thumb until 3rd grade/I used to race snowmobiles.
V-vegetables? I love them. Most of them raw, but I love cooked corn./ none, except McKenna's cooked corn.
W-worst habit? Thinking bodily functions are hilarious/bite my nails
X-xray or ultrasound? don't really know the purpose of that question. I suppose ultrasound is more informative in some respects, but I really enjoy bones, so I like xrays too./as far as? xray, no ultrasound cause it doesn't shrink your....are you serious??
Y-your favorite food? I love Italian food. It's so fattening and delicious/gluten-free pizza
Z-zodiac sign- virgo/aries I guess.

Reaching

Anna has been doing some reaching and grabbing lately. She now likes to kick and swat at her little mobile above her crib. So, the other day I was sitting outside with her (she really likes the sunshine) and the dogs were playing near us. PJ came and stood with his front paws on my lap, sniffing Anna. She had been watching him all along, and as soon as he got close to her, she jabbed him right in the eye with her finger. It kind of reminded me of that Simpson's episode where Homer is trying to find the little girl that Marge's sister adopted in the nursery. The only way he knows it's her is because she squishes his eyeballs. Anyway, it was funny. To celebrate Anna and PJ, I found this picture that we took a few weeks ago. Sorry about the "I stay at home" Mommy look.

6 Unspectacular Quirks

Okay Angie, this is for you. (p.s. we need another entry "dahling"...)

1. I am quite known for the way I completely butcher phrases and words. I definitely don't do it on purpose, but it just happens. For example, I was having a discussion at a Relief Society gathering with my mother and most of the Lambson Land Ladies. We were talking about how sour cream was such a nice addition to our meals once my family became wealthy enough to afford it, and I said something to the effect, "Yes, it was quite the delicatessen.." Yup, not delicacy like I meant, but it was a deli. I'm retarded.

2. I HATE having my ear folded backwards. It drives me bonkers. Sometimes Jared will tease me by holding me down as he folds them until I scream. It just weirds me out... I can't even have Anna's ears folded, I have to lay them flat.

3. I never had wisdom teeth. Actually, I'm even missing one molar on one side of my jaw.

4. When I swallow pills, I have to take only one at a time, and then I have a little system to get it down the gullet. First I put the pill in my mouth, take a large swig of water, swallow only a portion of it, then I do a little gesture with my hand before swallowing the rest with the pill. If I don't do that little boost-of-confidence gesture, I can't swallow it. Jared laughs at me as he takes his six pills without water...

5. I am afraid of bears. I love to be in the outdoors, and I love to camp, hunt, hike, etc., but if I have to spend the night somewhere, I take some sleep aids along. Heaven knows if I don't, I will just stay wide awake listening to every single noise imagining its a bear out to eat my family alive...

6. I love to organize. Give me tuberware bins, labels, and all your junk, and you could not believe how happy it could make me! There have been times when I felt a large amount of stress and seriously just wanted to go out and buy a whole bucket of beads just so I could organize them by size, shape, color, etc. It calms me in weird ways.

If anyone would also like to share 6 unspectacular quirks abou themselves, be my guest!

Crash

So, last week our hard drive crashed. Yay. We lost everything, which included all of our pictures (since 2004), all of Jared's school work, and my book (about 70 pages). Luckily, I had printed off a manuscript a few months ago, but unfotunately, all the changes I had made since then are gone. I think we are okay on Jared's school stuff; he didn't need too many of the old papers and whatnot. It would have been nice to keep those around, though. The saddest part is the pictures. I should have been printing them off every once in a while, but it was just so handy keeping them on our computer. I just feel bad that we lost all of Anna's first pictures, and there were a lot of them, but I guess we just move on and take more. I am glad that I started the blog; that was able to save some of our favorites. Anyway, such is life. Now we have a "happenin'" new laptop and I decided, based on some of Aaron's advice, to just restart my book. I think I've been trying too hard and my "voice" isn't coming through, so I'm working on just developing that writing skill. It has been fun. Well, that's really all the news I have for now, and sorry no pictures...

Little Fishy

Anna has been a little fishy from day one. She loves bathtime and enjoys showering with Mommy. She just sits there and licks her lips the whole time, it's hilarious. Anyway, she finally fit into her bathing suit (thanks SueAnn...), and so we went for a dip at the hotel. We didn't have any diaper covers, so it swelled to astronomic porportions, it was crazy. I think we left with most of the pool in her shorts.

Blessing Weekend

We blessed Anna on Sunday the 31st. My mother made her dress, which was gorgeous (the pictures don't do it justice). It was made from a vintage pattern based out of Victorian times. Here are a couple of pictures that we snapped while getting her ready. Anna thought it was funny.

But then we had to hurry and go...

She now thinks she's hot stuff for being the center of attention. She's too cool for us...

All in all, it was a very wonderful weekend. Jared's blessing was beautiful and we had such a blast with his family in town. Thanks to everyone who helped out; we couldn't have done it without you!!

Revelations, Epiphanies, and Spit Up

As a preface, I am currently reading Eckhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth", which was recommended to me by my Iranian chiropractor. It is intended to be a sort of spiritual awakening guide, but I have been enjoying it as a review of my psychology and philosophy classes. It talks a great deal about the "ego" and who we are as people living in this society. Tolle speaks about the inner voice that we all have, which I learned as "self talk" in Psych 101 in college. I probably came to recognize my inner voice when I was around 9 or 10 years old and starting to imagine myself talking to certain friends at school, or perhaps that one cute boy. I would hold conversations in my head, practicing what I would say, as I know you all do as well. The inner voice is unavoidable, but it becomes interesting when we analyze it and recognize when we are thinking or saying things to ourselves that are humorous, off-the-wall, or revealing. Anyway, to get to my point, I have been thinking more about what my voice has been saying as of late, and just the other night, I had a small parent-related idea. It was 4 o'clock in the morning, and I was thrilled because Anna had just slept for 7 1/2 hours straight! She is getting better and better at night, and I was just so happy to think that night-time feedings will probably be eliminated very soon now. I think while I was feeding her, I was imagining telling my mother about how cool that was when all of a sudden, Anna vomited her milk all over me. It was a good two or three ounces down my shirt, but I wasn't discouraged and my mood actually wasn't effected at all. I've gotten pretty used to unexpected explosions from my daughter, so I jokingly said with a melodramatic voice inside my head, "How could you do this to me???" and I think I laughed audibly along with it. At that point I realized that I could really ask the very same question regarding how long she had slept that night. If a parent takes it personally when a child does bad, then they certainly need to take it personally when they perform well or do good things. I have found that already I'm falling into a pattern of parenthood where my child does well because she is an amazing baby, but when she struggles with something, it is my fault. "I should have burped you better", or "You ate too much and that was my fault". I'm sure that I'm overanalyzing all of this, but I am just so interested to see what type of parent I will be, that I'm watching for habits and irrational behavior. Childrens' behavior is most likely a combination of the "nature vs. nurture" idea; in Anna's example, I know it is. She is both a very relaxed baby and I worked hard at creating good sleep habits from early on. She is also going through a spit up phase and I should have burped her earlier. I don't think any parent can completely take credit or completely blame themselves for anything their children do. This idea that popped into my head during Anna's feeding has nothing to do with my parents, or any specific parents that I know (nice little disclaimer, eh?). I only know terrific parents, and I'm just throwing around the thoughts that leaped into my head that night. Now, for the real reason that most of you check this blog, here is a cute picture of Anna...

Professional Wanna Be

This is the extent of my professional photography. Any family that wants a copy just let me know, or just click on the photo, save it to your computer and then print it on photo paper. It's pretty easy. After about 100 photos, these two were my favorite.

First Smile Caught

Although Anna has been smiling quite frequently lately, we hadn't caught it on camera yet. This picture is Anna's very first smile at Jared!! It was cute. It also proves that I exist other than online. :)

Tagged

Okay Michelle, this is for you!

Ten years ago I was...
Oh man, I am not completely sure what I did the summer of '98. I know that for three years ('97-'99) I was a Youth Camp Leader for the 4th year girls (the ones that backpack for 3 days instead of stay at camp). Michelle and I had a routine of getting a dozen doughnuts in the morning before we drove up to find trail with the Bergstrams. That was to make sure we didn't get too skinny, of course. If I remember right, this was the year that we found that huge muddy spot on the bank of a stream. We covered ourselves completely with mud, from head to toe, and took a picture. All you could see were a set of eyes peeking out from the bank, it was great. Otherwise, I'm sure I was working or doing something else useful, but to be honest, I have a horrific long term memory so I'm not sure.

5 Things on my to-do list:
1. Put Anna's newborn clothes in a labeled container.
2. Finish the dishes...that one is kind of on a continual basis.
3. Do some more pike-ups (tough sit-ups).
4. Jot down some of my thoughts that I had today about my book.
5. Find out why I blacked out earlier today. (that one maybe should be at the top, but it's not.)

A snack I enjoy:
Every summer it seems that I become a smoothie junkie. I love fruit smoothies, and I worked for a short while at a Jamba Juice while in college (I still have my hand print on the wall that we all did with paint up at BYU-I), so I go out and buy all the "fixin's" to make my own. I don't have a name for it, or exact measurements since I just throw it all together, but it consists of: strawberries, peaches, frozen apple juice concentrate, plain yogurt, and orange sherbet. It's really good.

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
If I had a million dollars, well I'd buy you a mink coat, not a real mink coat that's cruel...
Actually, I would take care of the usual (school loans, house, cars, children), and then take my family on trips around the world. I want to go to so many different countries and cities, I just don't have the funding to do so yet. That's all I really want though.

Places I have lived: (are you sure you're ready for this one??)
Rigby, Idaho
San Fransisco, California
Iona, Idaho
Ammon, Idaho
Idaho Falls, Idaho (25th St)
Boaz, Kentucky
St. George, Utah
Chandler, Arizona (Hacienda)
Chandler, Arizona (Saragosa)
Chandler, Arizona (Karen)
Flagstaff, Arizona
Rexburg, Idaho (Barnes)
Rexburg, Idaho (Aspen)
Sugar City, Idaho
Idaho Falls, Idaho (I St)
Idaho Falls, Idaho (J St)
Idaho Falls, Idaho (55th St)
Phoenix, Arizona
Mesa, Arizona

I also moved back into some of those homes twice, so I've actually moved 21 times in my life. Pretty good for only being 25 years old! (Hence the reason I don't hang on to furniture long...)
It will be nice to finally settle somewhere, eventually.

I tag Veronica and Bryndee on this one!

One Word Tag

Okay, while perusing my sister-in-law's blog, I happened upon the fact that I had been tagged...um, back in June. So, sorry SueAnn. I didn't catch it before, but here it is:

One Word Tag
1. Where is your cell phone?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dunno
2. Your significant other? . . . . . . . .. .. . . . .Affectionate
3. Your hair? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frustrating
4. Your mother? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Exemplary
5. Your father? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composed
6. Your favorite thing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laughs
7. Your dream last night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ZZZZ
8. Your favorite drink? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Water
9. Your dream/goal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Knowledge
10. The room you're in? . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . .Kitchen
11. Your hobby? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Writing
12. Your fear? . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insanity
13. Where do you want to be in six years? . . . . . School
14. Where were you last night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FHE (that's one word, right?)
15. What you're not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shy
16. Muffins? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Tops
17. One of your wish list items? . . . . . . . . . . . . Truth
18. Where you grew up? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Everywhere
19. The last thing you did? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blogged
20. What are you wearing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeans
21. Your tv? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . Silent
22. Your pets? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spoiled
23. Your computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sufficient
24. Your life? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Flowing
25. Your mood? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Aware
26. Missing someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . Brothers
27. Your car? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dirty
28. Something your not wearing? . . . . . . . . . . Shirt
29. Favorite store? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . REI
30. Your summer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Remarkable
31. Like someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jarebear
32. Your favorite color? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blue
33. When was the last time you laughed?. . . . . . . Today
34. Last time you cried? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friday
35. Who will do this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tagged

I tag the former and current Meppen ladies.

Milestone

Only 6 1/2 weeks old and already she rolls over - not only one direction either! She can roll to her right or left, hard surfaces or soft! We're so proud of our little athlete! :)

Gardner Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family search - Pedigree

Gall Darn Cute

Can you say, "Ham?"

Princess Anna With Her Wookie

So, when The Dark Knight first came out, Jared and I decided we couldn't wait to see it on video. We made Anna a little hat with cotton balls over her ears to block out the noise. She seemed to be fine with it, and then Grandma Birch volunteered to take her for the night, so we'll never know if it would've worked or not! Those 3 1/2 hours were the longest that I've been away from Anna in these last 5 weeks. Crazy, but I kind of enjoyed it! :)

Gigantic Garden

This was what came to fruition from Jared's amazing garden in our backyard!! He raised this great tomato from a small plant - quite the green thumb!
Okay, so it wasn't very big, and it was the only one on the plant, and the jalepeno plant died next to it, but by golly - this was the best tomato in the world!! :)

Found a Photo!

So, going through some of our old pics on the video camera, we found this fun little memory... I don't think the mohawk lasted too long (church comes every week.)

Daddy's a Tease

Camera Happy

Here are some random shots of Anna. Her first experience with a new pacifier.
Taking her nap at Uncle Dallin and Aunt Lisa's house in Tucson.
Cutie Patooty
Cousin Evelyn kissing Baby Anna's rear in Aunt Christine's arms. We'll be saving this one for when they are fighting later on in life...