Drama Queen @ 15 months

Meet the new queen of the house. Josie knows what she wants. When she wants it. How she wants it. And, don't mess with her or she just might slap you. It is so strange. I can't remember Lilly hitting me as a baby. But this little Josie lets you have it right in the kisser. She is the funniest little thing too. If she thinks she has hurt you (after she has hit you) she cries and cries. She is quite the character. She laughs at herself, then laughs at others, and then can switch on a dime and be screaming and shaking her fist at you. I have to laugh because it is sort of amusing. She has a little temper. I wonder where she gets that from? Ha. It will be interesting to see how she does as a two year old. It's good that she is my second because I know it will all come out in the wash. We love this little queen, drama and all.

From the back seat of the car last night.

Mom are you going to hold to the iron rope? The iron rope? Yea, the iron rope. Yes, I am going to hold to the iron rod. Even if it gets really dark? Yes, I am going to hold on. Me too.

We bought a Home!

Yippee !!!!!!!!!!

1- 20 mins from Dave's office!
2- A nice and beautiful desert community!
3- A very very good school for Lilly!
4- The first time in 5 years that Dave will be around! xoxoxo
5- We have a couple of friends that live in the area! Comforting
6- We can put our roots down! And live a little.
7- Only 55 miles from my family in AZ.
8- Near beautiful Sedona! (Like Park City-artsy)
9- We stole this house! The person who built it walked away just at the last min. So, we get to go and do the final walk throughs and make them fix any mistakes, as if we built it. (We tried to buy 4 homes in the last month and couldn't pull the trigger fast enough before they were under contract.) The market is really starting to move again. Glad we were renting.
10- Happy about the decision we made.

Some of the Not so Happy Factors
1- This will be our 4th place of residence in 5 years.
2- I will miss my family. I have a sister within a mile.
3- I have a brother 20 mins away!
4- They are building a temple 3 block (3 miles) from my current residence. Are we moving the wrong direction? Boo!
5- Leaving "Happy Valley" I mean "Happy Desert." And going out into the world.
6- Starting Over is hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially when you are not working.

Mom click here to see where we are moving to- Sonoran Foothills

Dave's Dolly's

98 degrees

Pictures are from February and first week in March.

Monday Morning Play Group- Someone is missing but I can't remember who.

Facts for April 14th 2007
1-Grandma Jackees birthday! Happy Birthday
2-Lilly went to her usual Monday Morning play group (8 little girls that are her age from the ward) This is something she loves to do. Play with her peers at a different house every week. We also got invited to do it on Friday's with the other 7 girls her age from our ward. Lucky for us! Lilly gets to be in both groups !!!!! She is in demand. Or I am willing to let her play anywhere with anyone. She loves friends and wishes she had a big sister.

Lilly loves the play groups and this year has been great. And why not- All they do is free play for 2 hours and stop for a snack. On our turn- We usually take them to the park. Here is a picture from February at the park 3 houses away from our house. The play ground is off in the distance. It is fun. We also always invite our cousin Carter to come. He loves the girls. If you look closely at the other girls you can see why Lilly wants to have long hair. Monday is the long hair group. Friday is half and half group. I will have to post the friday girls- they are a little more scraggly haired like us. Her best friend Audrey is in it also.

3-It was 98 degrees today and the heat is coming on. I Love the 90's -Hate the 120's. I do wear sunblock but I am pretty sure that I will be pretty wrinkled by the time I die.

4-We went swimming today after lunch and Josie loved it. I actually had to hold tightly to her little body- to keep her face out of the water. She was just squealing and jumping around. Yea for swimming. Yea for the sun! Yea for the pool!

5-It is summer here and the flowers are all starting to die-so sad. If you know me I love flowers. I love to plant them, buy them, and dream about them. So, I posted some pictures of flowers from the first week in March. I knew if I didn't take a picture then -they would be gone by May and no one in Utah would believe me that Summer is over by May; and winter hell has begun. You can't go out because of the heat and even when the sun has set it is above 100. Doesn't that sound like hell? Not being able to enjoy your summer break. You know that song "Oh what do you do in the summer time-when all the world is green" Can't do most of it because of the heat. Old people in un-airconditioned homes die here. You see it on the news all the time. You know the description of hell with its never ending burning torment. That is our winter in July. Which sucks for the school kids. They finally get out of school only to be shut up inside. Think about taking school off in January and February, those would be long days in those areas with snow.

6-Today we ate the best watermelon in the whole world. I am pretty sure of it. We played a couple of rounds of old maid. Lilly's new friend Sarah who moved next door, came over after school (She is a 2nd grader and is introducing Lilly into all kinds of new things)-We will see how this goes. Lilly wanted to know what a christian was after playing with Sarah.

7- It was a fun day and I can't complain. It would have even been funner if you my friends could have spent it with me.

I can do it myself.

"Hey mom can I have some brownies?" Yes, just one minuet. "No, I can do it myself."


It is very strange how you spend much of your Mother-hood trying to teach your child how to be self sufficient. The goal of a parent seems to be to help your child grow up to be a productive, happy, loving, and a self reliant adult. You want your child to learn how to make their own happiness. How to take care of themselves. How to comfort themselves and comfort others. How to be resourceful. How to cut a perfect diamond out of the middle of your brownies at age Four.

Well, a small part of that goal starting happening this year for me. It started when Lilly went to preschool. I was not allowed inside after the first couple of weeks. And, don't bother trying to get a description of what happened there. Next, I was not allowed to help make her bed (which is good thing) but it needs help every now and then. Then, I had no say in what outfit she picked out, and no combing of her hair. Which she is trying to grow out. Yes, it is a scraggly mess. Lilly is also learning to read. She is pretty good at those little sight word books that her teacher sends home every week. But, you got it-she reads those to Dave. She thinks we should take her training wheels off of her bike. She just got her bike for Christmas. And, the monkey bars-are like watching the lady on the flying trapeze. Even the boys are mesmerized at the playground. I am terrified. But, you know I get the same old- no mom I can do this. She will cut her own brownies, pour her own milk and now she walks to her friends house.

It was one of the moments for me. I was in total shock. It happened the first week in March. She woke up and said I am walking down to Audrey's to take her this coloring page. I said, "I could go." No way. "Let me call down there so they know you are coming." -No way. It is about 15 house down the street and just around the curve. I can't really see her. So, I sad o.k. and took a picture of her before she left. She happily skipped away, turned and waved at me and then disappeared around the corner. Maybe she won't come back someday? What have I done! I am not sure I am ready for this.

First Cake

Josie's first Birthday was fun. We had our cousins over for cake and ice cream. They sang great. And of course, Josie had her own mini-cake. She was so cute to watch. There is something wonderful about watching a child do something for the first time. "First's" are just as exciting for the parent as the child. At first, she would only touch it with her finger because I don't know if she knew what it was or what to do.

Then she began touching it with alternating hands and licking each finger off. It got a little frustrating after awhile. She wanted that cake, but would have to lick her dirty fingers every time she went after it. Eventually, she figured out how to eat the cake without getting her fingers dirty. She went for it with her mouth.That way she wouldn't have to keep licking her fingers. "Clever girl" And, you know once your face is dirty. You might as well pick it right up. She did not want me to take away her little piece of heaven.

See the dirty look. Get away mom, and don't clean my face. And, there is the scream and shaking fist-

"You took my cake"