My Pooh bear and hers.

Happy Halloween! This is probably the last year we will get away with a non-princess costume for a while so we had to take advantage of it. Isn't she so cute? Daddy got to take her trick-or-treating and she got a "couple" of pieces of candy which was more than mom would have let her eat. She loved it so much didn't want to stop. She knocked on our door and after it was answered wanted to leave again.

Engagement!

Shaun's brother Mike came to visit us two weeks ago and I've been meaning to write a long post about the excitement we had while he was here. But then I noticed he did it for me, and better than I could do it. So head over to his blog and read all about it, it's worth your time.

http://ritchierambler.blogspot.com/2011/10/so-big-news-is-that-on-october-8th-i.html

Cecilia on the 80 yr old carrousel

Shaun had free tickets to lagoon so we decided to invite my parents and go. Saturday was the perfect day to do it too. The sun was shining, and warm. I'm sure it was the last short sleeve and flip flop day of the year. We really couldn't ask for a better day and tried to take advantage of it. Ceessa got to ride every ride she wanted to, include her favorite, the carrousel. The adults got to ride several rides too and fun was had by all. Couldn't ask for a better mid-October day!

Albuquerque

I almost forgot to tell you about our trip to Albuquerque. We went down to see the balloon festival. It was the most fun I've had getting up at 4:30 in the morning. They were trying to set a world record for the most hot air balloons set off in an hour. I don't know if they made it or not but I heard there were about 500 balloons that took off in two hours. It was so much fun and I went crazy taking pictures. Here are a few.

The next day Shaun, his mom, his brother, and his girlfriend (now fiancee) went on a balloon ride. They said it was really cool and got to touch the river with the bottom of the basket. Here are a few of their pictures.

It was another sleepless weekend with the Ritchie's, but again so fun.

Pumpkin patch

It was freezing the other day but I took Cecilia to a pumpkin patch that had a free corn maze for the kids. I'm trying to embrace fall even though I'm really having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that summer is over. She surprisingly really liked the corn maze so we did it twice. Then grabbed a few pumpkins and headed over to an apple orchard to get cider, which they didn't have. So we picked a few apples for the horses down the road. We were both frozen by the end and I couldn't thaw out all night. I miss summer.

Little Red Riding Hood

Cecilia showing off her new winter coat. Isn't she so cute?

Jungle Jims

We were planning on going to Lagoon on Saturday because Shaun's company had tickets. But it was cold and rainy so we decided to put it off until next week and hope it will be nicer. We told Cecilia about it and needed to deliver on some fun rides. I remembered a friend once posting about a place here in SLC with indoor rides so I called her and found Jungle Jim's. It was just the thing we needed. Perfect for an hour or two, but not more because the grownups get sick of riding the spinny rides after that. There is a carousel, swings, tea pots (what put Shaun over the edge, good thing it was the last ride), bumper cars, a train, and the airplane ride featured below. Cecilia loved everything except the bumper cars. I did it once with her and then let her ride by herself, which was a mistake. She wasn't quite old enough to get the steering thing and rammed right in the side full speed. Much wailing but a quick ride on the swings and she was right as wind again. When we left we asked her which ride was her favorite and she said "all of them."

Catch up

Has it seriously been since August since I last posted? How embarrassing. I guess we were so caught up in enjoying the summer that I really let it slack. I didn't really even finish our Oregon trip. We got to see Shaun's grandma, and two of his aunts (one of which we stayed with, Thanks again Barbara) and a cousin (who we also stayed with, thanks Cherice). It was so much fun and is one of our favorite yearly trips. In fact, the other day I took Cecilia apple picking at a U-pick orchard here and she said "We're not picking blueberries, we're picking apples." It made me sad. I'd much rather go blueberry picking than apple picking. But I'll just have to wait until next year.

Well let me catch you up a bit. At the end of August we did another yearly trip to Island Park with Shaun's parents. It is also fun, although Cecilia got cold the last night we were there and didn't sleep after 4am. I think everybody was glad we were going home so we could all get some sleep (including Shaun's parents who didn't get any sleep either). I don't seem to have any pictures of the trip though...

In September I took Cecilia to the State Fair. We had great Fair food (see picture) and Cecilia loved the Little Hands exhibit where she got to be a farmer for a day and do chores and then get "paid" at the end with a small box of sugar cereal. Something she never gets around here. It was a fun afternoon activity and we'll have to do it again next year.

Also in September Shaun and I went to the Inc 500 conference. This is the second year in a row he has made the list and it was fun to have a vacation sans Cecilia to attend the gala. I am so proud of what Shaun and his partner Dan have accomplished, and they keep going! Here is a picture of Shaun at the Air and Space Museum we attended in our downtime. And one with Dan at the gala.

That catches up on the most of what I should have been posting for the last 6 weeks. I'll do a couple of separate posts about our adventures this week. Happy Fall!

Blueberry picking

Last weekend while we visited Shaun's family we went blueberry picking. I was really excited to take Cecilia. I thought she would really get it this year. Last year she kept trying to eat them off the ground. She took right to it and I only had to tell her once to pick the dark ones and she got it. She definitely got her fill of blueberries though because we went back later in the day to pick more and she didn't want to eat any. Between the two pickings we had 26 pounds. I know we are crazy, but they were 86 cents a pound! That is practically giving them away! Which we did lots of after we picked 26 pounds of berries.

Summer dinner

I've been meaning to take a picture of every dinner we've made this
week and blog about it but I've been too hungry to do it before I
scarf it down. We've had all quintessential summer meals, grilled
twice, lots of corn on the cob from my parents garden, blueberries
that we picked in Oregon (I'll tell you about that next). Just plain
old yummy summer meals. It has been wonderful! Last night we made
beat salad with beats from my parents garden, and mushroom pasta with
mushrooms we bought at the farmers market. Yay for summer!

Carrousel

I took Cecilia to the zoo last week. It was a scorcher of a day. So we tried to cool off with a ride on the carrousel. "Tried" being the operative word. I was surprised she picked the rhino to ride, but she insisted and never wavered. Cecilia enjoyed it so much she didn't want to get off, we were the last ones out.

We have babies!

A few weeks ago I told you about the hummingbird nest. Well here they are and they are so cute and tiny! Here you can see one head and the others beak.

Daddy's little helper

What more can I say. They are so cute!

First fruits of the garden!

Ok so it is a vegetable, not a fruit. You get the idea. Hopefully there is more where this came from! Cecilia was so excited that we cooked it up for dinner, she ate it, and asked for zucchini the next morning for breakfast. I can't wait for the tomatoes and cucumbers to grow! If only you could grow meat and pasta in your garden. Then no more picky eater would we have.

Queen

Queen of Ikea with her baton.

Soccer game

Last week we took Cecilia to her first soccer game. She took a nap that day which is a rarity these days so we decided to let her stay up a little to catch part of the Real Salt Lake vs Dallas game. We were excited to let her experience something new. I forgot how loud the games are! But she warmed up after awhile and had fun. So much so that she threw a full on temper tantrum getting into the car and wouldn't go to bed. Maybe next year she will be old enough to handle it better. Anyway we bought her a churro which was terrible. She took one bite, decided the best part was on the outside, and then just licked it. I thought it was quite ingenious of her.

Strawberries!

Over the 4th of July we went to visit some friends in Seattle. We had a great time. One of the highlights was they took us to a U-pick berry farm. It was the perfect temp for berry picking. Their daughter entertained Cecilia most of the time so Shaun and I were able to pick lots of berries. Here is Cecilia with one of the two boxes we picked. As you can see she also had fun sampling the berries (notice some on her forehead).

Success! We ate lots of these berries during the trip and managed to transport the other box home. You know how Shaun and I are with our berries, we'll find a way.

After strawberry picking we headed to lunch. On the way we found a place that sold "indecent" ice cream cones and had to stop. Nothing like dessert before lunch on the 4th of July. This is the "kiddie" cone that the three of us shared.

Lighthouse and families

During our trip to Seattle we went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful day and this was a great way to end it. We walked down to the lighthouse to watch the sun set over the water. Not something we get to do very often. Here we are with the Brubaker family, who were gracious enough to drop their weekend plans and entertain us.

Cecilia adores their daughter Sophie and had so much fun following her around. Here they are being silly as only little girls can be.

Humming bird

I recently told you about the robin nest above our front door. Well last weekend I noticed a hummingbird nest outside our master window. I don't know about you, but I've never seen a hummingbird nest before. It is really small and really cool. I'm amazed at how a bird with no
hands could build such a thing. It somehow wraps around the tree and looks like it is made from white mud. Anyway here is the best picture I can get of it and the mamma inside. There is two eggs inside but I don't have a pic of them. We can only see them when it rains and pulls
the branch down. Two birds nests, in one year, that must be a good omen.

First haircut

Shaun has been bugging me to get cecilia's hair cut for months now. I
have been scared to do it because I love her curls. But my friend got
her daughters hair cut by a girl in our last ward and it looked really
good. So I decided to go for it. It will grow out right? I was
surprised how similar it was to getting my own hair cut. She has so
much hair! Look how long it is in this picture! We only cut off a
little from the bottom and made some layers which should help with the
frizz problem. Lets see how long it takes Shaun to notice.

swimming

As you may remember Cecilia and I were in a parent-tot swimming class. Well she has outgrown it. It has been time to move her to private lessons for a while but I've been enjoying our time together. I finally decided to move her when she starting singing the songs with us in the pool and the other kids in the class are less than half her age. We have had a couple of private lessons so far. Last week she had her first male instructor and screamed the entire lesson. It was a complete waste of time and money. I was quite surprised because I've never seen her react to men like that but it was apparent that was the problem. But this week she had the owner of Swim Kids sub in. Of course she is the best teacher and Cecilia would be swimming on her own in no time if this lady taught every lesson. There was just something about her that exuded confidence and Cecilia did what ever she asked. Cecilia has come close to floating on her own before, but watch this. I'm so proud of her!

Powdered donut face

Wednesday we went to what felt like the first real BBQ of the summer. I guess what made it feel like that was because it was at a park, of course grilled food, and lots of people chatting while their kids are running around playing. Cecilia has decided to stop napping. I was really hoping she would take one that day since we would keep her up for this party, but she didn't cooperate. Once we got there and she starting running around I decided to let loose and make this a "special" day. Keep her up past her 6 pm bedtime (no naps remember) and let her eat junk food for dinner. She was actually really well behaved and pretty much entertained herself the whole time. Which was surprising given her tired nature and affinity for latching onto mommy's leg in unfamiliar situations. She did find one little boy to play with and they had a good time running around screaming. She ate watermelon and chips for dinner and topped it off with a powdered donut smeared all over her face below. In the end I reminded myself this is what summer is all about, running around playing and eating junk food for dinner. Yeah for summer, don't ever leave me!

Catching up

So I have a terrible cold/flu. It has really knocked me down. My parents generously came and got Cecilia today so I could recover. I have had the laziest day. So nice. That meant it was time to update the blog. So much has happened. As you will find out as you read all the posts. We bought a house, did some remodeling, went to France, moved into our new house, and hopefully next week will have sold our old house. Whew! So read on to hear all about it.

Baby Birds

Shaun noticed a nest above the front door of our new house right before we left for France. It had one beautiful blue robin egg. The nest is in a awkward place, but it had to stay. When we got back, there was a broken egg on the ground and two pink, brand new baby birds in the nest. Not sure what happened, but we had two brand new babies. That has to be some good omen for our new house. They were ugly, but cute. Shaun set up a ladder inside the door so we could peak at the birds through the window. It has been so fun for me to watch these babies grow up. Here is a collage of the pictures we have taken. Sorry they are not the best quality, but this is the best we could do given where they were. They were all taken within about 2 weeks, they grew up fast! The babies have already flown the coup!

New House

We bought a new house in Holladay. It is fairly close to our old house, much bigger and newer than it too. We didn't like some of the things in the house and decided to remodel them before we moved in. It turned into a bigger project and more time intensive than we thought, but don't all remodel projects? We were only a little bit off our timing and had only one minor show stopping problem. Not bad huh? Here are a couple of pics of the new house.

My baby is 2!

Cecilia's birthday was Friday. Because of the remodel and listing our house we didn't do much. It also didn't help that Cecilia was sick. Poor thing had a cough so bad that she threw up twice. Needless to say it wasn't the best day she has ever had. So Saturday, when she was feeling better we took her to the aquarium. She had a great time seeing all the fish and penguins. Next year we'll have to do something more, hopefully she won't be sick for it :) Happy Birthday little toddler!

Cute Video

I caught this cute video of Cecilia at our new house the other day. I mentioned I was thirsty and was going to walk over to the other side of the house to get my water bottle. She pushed me back and said "Ceesa (what she calls herself) do it" I said ok. She quickly disappears around the side if the house. This is me waiting for her to come back. Notice the look on her face when she hides the keys behind her back. Isn't that the most typical guilty kids look? It makes me laugh everytime I watch this.

Pork chops

I finally did it. I've tried for years to make a juicy pork chop. Each recipe in turn produced a dry chop. But this one succeeded! Try it for yourself.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ed-Ziebas-Famous-Family-Pork-Chops/Detail.aspx

Lady and the Tramp moment

Cecilia and her friend Piper sharing a berry smoothie from Costco. They collectively finished half in the time it took us to cross the parking lot! I was amazed until I tasted it and realized how much sugar there is in it. Mmm!

Venezuela

While the optimist in me would like to think Shaun will sit down and write a blog post about his trip to Venezuela the realist in me knows that isn't going to happen. Fortunately for us he went to visit his brother who has taken the time to write a very entertaining post about their adventures. Find it here.

1 year mark

One year ago this week Cecilia got her cast off. There have been three days in my life that I will never forget, our wedding day, the day Cecilia was born, and the day she got her cast off. I joke that I looked forward to it more than Cecilia's birth. Her cast was more difficult than being 9 months pregnant. Because it was so monumental I think we will celebrate it every year. This week we went swimming (her favorite activity) and played and ran lots. We went to grandma and grandpa Hadley's and played with cousins who kept her running and giggling the whole time. Cecilia had so much fun with them it was worth the rearranging I had to do to get up there and a great way to celebrate being able to move.

She has come so far in the last year! I am so grateful I noticed the problem when I did and we got the cast on then. I can't imagine how challenging it would be if we were going through that right now. I'm so grateful I've had a year to forget :)

I caught this video on the year mark and wanted to share with you what a happy toddler she is. Yeah for a healthy kid!

Spring Fever

I think Cecilia has spring fever as much as I do. She insisted on wearing this dress today. I tried to get her to wear pants with it but she refused. We compromised on tights. When will it be nice again?

On the move

This little girl has people to see and places to be.

I've Sinned

Ok, well maybe sin is a bit strong. Maybe more like I've made a bad choice, or naughty in the words of a 2 year old. I should probably be given a timeout, although it would probably be more of a reward than a punishment. But I digress. I bought something at the grocery store last night that I shouldn't have. Most wouldn't think it is a sin, but for me it is a weakness. I should start at the beginning. A few weeks ago I had a flat tire on my car. I took it to the Big O where we bought them. I had Cecilia with me so we took a field trip to the bakery next door while we waited for the tires to be fixed. While I was there I saw some cookies that reminded me of some cookies my mom used to buy when I was little, I remember them so well because I used to sneak them from the pantry. I asked what they were called and she said Mexican Wedding cookies. That sounded like what my mom used to get, I know it had wedding in the title. So I had to get some and see, 4 to be exact. Which if you don't know about these type of cookies they are just two bites each. I figured I'd have one or two today and give one or two to Shaun or have them another day. I bit into the first one and Whoosh, right back to that pink bag of yummy bite sized cookies from my childhood. It was so yummy! It wasn't exactly the same, but close enough. Of course Cecilia made me share with her and I surprised myself by being reluctant let her have any. Now if you know me at all, you know I don't have a sweet tooth. I know that is so hard for most of you to understand. But sugar doesn't like me and I frequently end up with a headache in the end. That whole negative reinforcement works well on me (yes this is a scientific term and if you don't know what it means- look it up, I guarantee you will be using it soon). So I rarely make dessert and only if we have company and if I eat sweets I always have a small portion. In fact, Shaun doesn't mind sharing with me because when I say I only want 2 bites, I mean I only want 2 bites, and I will only take 2 bites. So it surprised no one more than me when I looked down and the cookies were all gone and I was wishing for more. But I restrained myself and we went on our way.

Over the next few days I found myself craving those cookies! Again a first, I never crave sugar (chips- yes but cookies?!). Finally a week later I caved and went back. This time I bought more so they would last me. I was good though and only had 1 or 2 a day. But too soon they were gone.

One day when I was talking to my mom I told her that I found a bakery that makes mexican wedding cookies and told her how I've previously looked in the grocery store for those yummy cookies in the pink bag she used to get and can't find them. She was surprised and said she hasn't bought them in years but thought they still sold them.

Last weekend Cecilia and I went to visit my parents and my mom told me she had a surprise for me. Guess what she pulls out?!

Yep you got it, Danish Wedding Cookies! I know they aren't mexican wedding cookies, but I've done some research and found the names are pretty much interchangeable (along with a couple others). I was so excited to break open that box. I guess over the years they went from bag to box, but it is the same old bright pink package! First bite, Ahh now that is the cookie I remember! I had a hard time stopping eating them. In fact the next day I "overdosed" and had a headache the rest of the day. I think that helped me to tell my mom that I was leaving them there, they are too dangerous for me. It will be my special treat when visit them. But my resolve didn't last long... For guess what I found in my grocery store last night. I know I know I really shouldn't have, but these cookies are a weakness for me! I don't know what to do, I've never been tempted by sugar like this before. Well at least not since I was a kid and had them the first go round. I've got to teach myself discipline with this box of cookies. Not too many and not too frequently. I can do it, I can be disciplined. And if I am maybe it won't be a sin after all.

Hair!

Now this is some serious bed head! What to do with that curly hair?!

Seattle

Last weekend we visited some friends in Seattle. They recently moved there from here and we missed them and had to go catch up. It was a packed weekend with lots of yummy food. Cecilia loved their youngest daughter so much. She followed her around the whole time calling her name. It started out sounding like "goofy" but with lots of practice turned into "Sofie" by the end of the weekend. This is Sofie helping Cecilia up the stairs at the place we rented. It had a gorgeous view. Thanks Brubakers for a great weekend! We'll have to do it again, next time when it rains less.

Cute video

Here is the cutest video I caught of Cecilia way back in November. She is pretending to read a book to herself in her rocking chair. Sometimes that kid is so adorable!

Gingerbread House

This year for Christmas my mom gave each family a gingerbread house kit to put together. I was really excited about it because I had been thinking about doing one with Cecilia and took her around town showing her some on display. One Sunday after church we sat her down for this activity. It took her a little bit to figure out what she was supposed to do, but Shaun was really patient with her and showed her that we don't eat it, or lick it, but build with and on it. Soon she was directing the activity, handing me candies to put on the house when she couldn't reach. Here is a cute video of it. Thanks Grandma, it was so fun!

Penguin Encounter

We had the opportunity to have a back of the scenes tour of the Living Planet Aquarium in November. My sister and her family came for it as our Christmas present to them. Cecilia was sick so we had her come for the first part (the part I was excited for her to experience) and then went home to bed. It was so much fun and I learned so much! One of the things we got to do was the Penguin Encounter. The aquarium offers this to anyone who wants to pay extra (you do have to schedule it with them) so the penguins are used to it. They dressed us up in coats, it is 40 degrees in there, and told us DON'T TOUCH THE PENGUINS!

Cecilia has a favorite toy she sleeps with every night and nap, it is this silly squishy penguin we got in a box of clothes from my sister (who doesn't remember anything about it). Many a night Cecilia will wake up, search around in her crib, find "Peno,"clutch him in her hand, and go back to sleep. I was excited for her to meet real penguins. The only thing I didn't realize was how much she would want to get down and go play with them. That was the one forbidden rule, they can touch you, but you can't touch them. Shaun and I spent the whole time wrangling her trying to keep her from mauling one. I don't think it was nearly as fun as I envisioned it would be. Maybe next year...

Swimming

Some may recall that I signed Cecilia and I up for swimming as a reward after she got the cast off. She of course loved it (as she would if she had any Hadley blood in her at all). Well we stopped over the summer because it is so busy and easy to find things to do. As fall came and we couldn't play outside as much I decided to start it up again. It is usually during the week in the morning so I've never had anyone to take pictures or video of it. But we missed a class recently and had a makeup day on a Saturday. This meant Shaun could come and document it for us. Cecilia truly loves it and after every activity she says "mooRREEH" (which is her way of saying more). Here are two of the best videos from the day. Be ware, not all of the kids love it as much as she does and you will hear them screaming in the background.

Guilty as charged

Yeah it has been over two months since I last posted. Guilty as charged. I do have several excuses, the primary being, until Christmas I didn't have a camera that I could actually get the pictures off of. I previously mentioned that my camera was stolen in Mexico so all we had was an old camera that we don't have a cord to plug it into the computer and it took us that long to get an USB Reader. I know it is cheap and easy to get one. But... but... well we are lazy. Then I got a cold that lasted for literally 6-7 weeks and Cecilia got a bad cold and in the middle of all that Shaun sprained his ankle so bad it would have taken less time to heal if he had broken it. I know excuses, excuses. And you are right. So I won't bother telling you the rest of the list of excuses I prepared because they sound, well flat. Instead I will get on with the updates and vow to be better in the future.

Favorite Things

Cecilia's favorite things right now are toothbrush and toothpaste. Our favorite thing is how she says them. Notice how she gets frustrated when asked to repeat it, like "Duh, dad."