Happy 4th of July!

Sorry they're sideways-you can see at 1 year and a half Mere has really grown into a toddler!






This week has been more relaxing than the past couple of weeks. We've gone swimming at the pool here in our new apt complex and we've got some decorations up. Mere has been teething and so a bit cranky, but is having fun walking around the house and outside in some of the pairs of shoes she's gotten from friends of ours. We've also had many kind people give us clothes for Mere and the little boy!

A good snack:

2 C sugar free peanut butter
2 C rolled oats
1/2 C or more raisins
1/4 C honey

mix, roll into balls and enjoy!

I have a hard time picking toys for Mere-it's hard to know what she will like or what she's old enough for, but we got a Mr. Potato head this week and she has really enjoyed putting all the body parts on him and carrying him around-she calls him "apple." I remember playing with this with my older brother! Mere has also enjoyed playing with her toy kitchen and pretending to eat and drink and feed us and her bear.

Settling In

We're still unpacking and I can't find the cord to upload photos from my camera-maybe later this week :) We just had the missionaries over for dinner-Mere was bouncing all over them-she likes visitors and she liked one kind missionary in particular and climbed right into his lap and was pulling his tie, his tag, and pen and giggling like crazy.

We're hanging in there, almost ready for the baby now. . . Saki's catching up on much needed rest after LOTS of moving things here and there and re-arranging in the house. He has been an amazing support and husband through it all-he's so patient with Mere and my frazzled nerves. We've had many kind people help us-and now we have a dryer-this apt uses a gas instead of electric dryer so we got one off of Craigslist.

Mere is running all over now, and has learned more signs-but she isn't very quiet-she says the words when she signs them and she squeals very loudly when she is frustrated with something. Some of her new signs are thank you, flower, car, bike, cat, potty, book. She's getting to be a more temperamental eater-she may eat something one day and not another. But at least she still eats a lot. She's learned how to open doors now-I guess she's just barely gotten tall enough to and the new place we moved to has those lever door handles instead of the round ones-so that's kind of something we have to watch out for now.

Things go slow then everything happens at once. . .

. . . that's how life seems to be. We've been waiting on a paper from Saki's school to finalize an application for an apartment for almost 6 weeks and this week it went through, and it happened to be the week we had a ward activity which I had offered to be mostly in charge of (I'm on the activities committee) and it's Saki's final week for his current class. SOOO packing, cooking like crazy for the ward, and unpacking and trying to organize things almost sent me into labor, but all's slowed down a little now-Saki's just typing his final paper and I'm trying to not put everthing in order here so I don't have the baby too early.

We have been very blessed to have friends from the church help out moving and cleaning and even got food and a infant carrier, which we needed! We also feel very blessed that we now live in a more spacious 3 bedroom and two bathroom apt! I love having a little walk-in closet and our own bathroom and an extra room for crafts and company! The place is nice and all's well with us, just crazy busy. Hopefully this week is slower and we will have some photos next week-lots of love to everyone, sorry I've had no time to respond to emails and blogs, but maybe I will this week :)

To all the women who read this blog...

I would like to suggest a book to you. It is a quick read and simple, but I think one all women should read. Why? Because every woman I know (including myself) is prone to criticize and nag whether they mean to or not-it's just in our natures. I'd like to believe that most of us do it with good intentions or don't even recognize what we're doing, but that doesn't make it ok. I hear other women talking to their husbands or listen to myself at times and I get so sad that I act or say some things I do. I want to love and help my husband and often find myself at a loss of HOW to do it! I liked the points the book brought up and I really agree that even "constructive" criticism drives the Spirit away. I got the book at Deseret Book, I'm sure it can be bought online and hope all you women I love will read it :) "Behind Every Good Man" by John Bytheway. Let me know your thoughts before and after reading :) Thanks

Wishing I lived on the beach. . .

This Friday and Sat we went to the San Diego to the temple and to San Juan Capistrano Beach to visit my cousins who are spending a week there-we used to have family reunions at this beach when I was young.

Here you see Mere with Evan and Erick who are the same age as Mere. On the left you see how she loves to look at books before going to bed or in the car.


Stretching our legs at the mall.

If you live in the Salt Lake area and are planning to get some professional photos done anytime soon I would like to recommend my cousin Carlye Morgan! She does some adorable things and is great with kids-here is her website: http://www.carlyemorganphotography.com

I have watched two episodes of this show, and thought I'd look up more about the family. They are so inspirational to me from what I've seen! They are raise their kids to love the Lord, they have standards in modesty and behavior and they love children and stay out of debt : ) The world needs more families like this! http://www.duggarfamily.com/

Also for those living in Utah-my cousin Chris Bradshaw and Matt Wittacker are directing the first Salt Lake City Film Festival, so if you're in the area you may want to look into it! http://www.saltlakecityfilmfestival.com/about.html