Beach House 2011

Oh how do I love the beach! The shifty soft sand, the blowing wind, the toasty hot sun, the roaring waves. Relaxing in my beach chair or swimming in the cool wet ocean: Crystal and I only came back inside for meals and naps. Every day, we were the first ones on the beach, and almost the last ones to return inside. Now that we've returned home, I feel satisfied at a vacation well-spent!



Thank you, dear Mother-in-law, for paying thousands of dollars each and every year for all of us to enjoy the magnificent wonder of the ocean and the warmth of our big family's love. I love you very much and I'll soon start counting down again to next year's beach trip. Yippee!

Also, thank you to the Watsons and the Strongs who bought plane tickets to fly across the country for this. Crystal and I loved chatting and playing with all of you and are sad to say goodbye! We love you!

15 Months Update

Crystal is now 15 months old! She's 25 lbs, 32 inches: putting her at 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. She now has 12 teeth and a little more hair. Walking by herself is still to scary for her and I love it when she often reaches for my hand.


Words that she can say moderately well include book, bike, shoe, flop (for flip-flops), ball, dog, cat, toes, ear, hair, eye, milk, juice, cheese, grape, mommy, and dad. She does try to repeat every word that we say though many of the others come out sounding like "ba."

We got a renter for the upstairs bedroom and he's a 43-year-old Navy officer that had to move to the area for work is leaving his family for a year. He leaves for work early and returns late, goes on many trips, and it's almost like he's never here!

Our Ford Focus' engine died for good, so now we're down to only one car. Right now, we only need one car though it's still an adjustment for us. Steve rides his bike 6.5 miles to work when the weather permits and loves it.

Photos update:

Crystal 12-18 months

Recent photo highlights:
enjoying the airshow
trip to the zoo
Crystal's cousins visiting from Utah

Mother's Day

I love being a mom!

Other news:

-At almost 14 months, Crystal stands on her own now, but will only walk while holding our hands. She goes in the potty about 4 times a day. She still nurses throughout the night. She still has very little hair but she does have 10 teeth. She loves chasing grandma's cat around the yard and her favorite word to say is "book"

-We might be getting a summer intern to rent the room upstairs from us.
-I'm sad that one of my sunbeams is moving away. I've become pretty attached to them.
-Steve's parents have been called to a different ward.

Crystal is One!

We had a little party on Saturday with Crystal's favorite friends and family members. It wasn't quite warm enough to have it outside, so we had the party inside and it was still a blast! Crystal had so much fun and also loved having extra time with her cousins for a few hours before the party and the previous evening.

I had never thrown a party for anyone before and I was totally stressing out about it all week long. I spent much of the previous day and that morning cooking and baking and I really enjoyed doing it. We made pita bread, bean dip, guacamole, hummus, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and a banana cake with cream cheese frosting. Steve liked the bean dip, and my dad liked the guacamole. Crystal also loved the guacamole and the cake. My attempt at homemade hummus wasn't that good. I'll try to be more precise with making it next time. Also, the banana cake was awesome!

The right number of people came including 4 of Crystal's baby friends that she loves. The favorite toy was the dinosaur walker and she ended up with two of those, one from each set of grandparents!

Overall, I was satisfied with the outcome and happy that we did it. Even Steve expressed his appreciation to me!