Of New Cars and Birthdays

So here's the newest member of our family... a Jeep Patriot! We love it... especially Josh. It is technically his car, since it gets almost 27mpg and has 4wd. It is so roomy and so comfortable and accommodates our long legs very nicely. So yeah... and if you were wondering... we didn't go fishing... its a stock photo, but ours is just like it.Lainey turned 1 on Sunday... Holy cow! We had a bbq on Saturday to celebrate- and it was way fun. It was such a nice day and Lainey loves having company to show off for! (and check out her adorable curls!) This is Lainey and her future hubby Jacob (he's our neighbor)
I decorated this magnetic board that I got from Roberts and Josh painted the toy chest, also from Roberts, and I did her name with vinyl letters using a Cricut. She loves her cute doll and the princess books and looks so adorable in her new sundress... Thanks Shellie, Julie and Amy!
She loved her cake. She dug right in... both hands!



"We are a happy family!"

Update

So here's what we found out at Primary Children's today... She has buckle fractures in both the tibia and the fibula and will have to wear this hard cast for 4 weeks... she'll have to wear it until June 11... after her birthday :( I was wanting to have a little pool party, but oh well. We might have to have a belated party after she gets it off. She held perfectly still while they put her cast on and when we got home she couldn't wait to get down and play! What a trooper! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

A Broken Leg

We went to Tropic for Mother's Day last Thursday. Friday morning, Lainey missed the step that goes from the kitchen into the living room in my mom's house and landed hard on her right leg. She cried a little, but not for very long, so we thought she was okay. A little while later, however, she wouldn't put any weight on it, so we decided to take her to the hospital in Panguitch. The doctor checked her out, twisting and tugging on her leg and she didn't cry or anything, so he thought it was just a pulled muscle but wanted to have some x-rays done just in case. (Lainey did cry during the x-rays, but that is a big scary room and a big scary machine!) They did reveal that she had in fact broke her leg, or well kinked it anyway. It is her fibula (the small bone in the lower leg). The doctor explained it like if you were to bend old celery, it wouldn't snap, just bend or kink. She gets to wear this fun little fiberglass splint for 3 to 4 weeks (according to the Dr. in Panguitch... we're going to Primary Children's Fracture Clinic tomorrow for a follow up) The doctor said that in his 18 years of practice, this is the youngest person he has seen with a broken leg. Lainey is now able to walk with her splint, and she is doing really well (except for an ear infection) and isn't put out at all. I just wish that we didn't feel so awful about it! It was really hard to choke back the tears when the doctor was showing us the x-rays. I just kept thinking that our little girl is hurt and broken, and that it wasn't something that I could kiss better. I have just wanted to hold and cuddle with her and she has wanted to be 'babied' which has really been good for both of us. She was getting to be quite the independant and demanding soul! So anyways... there's our drama... I hope you all had a happy Mother's Day!

She's still smiling!

Grandma LeFevre, my mom, me and Lainey... 4 generations!

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures!

The tulips in my MIL's garden have been so beautiful, and Lainey just couldn't resist, and neither could I. Whenever she sees flowers, she'll sniff (repetedly) until I let her smell them and then she pushes them away. She's so cute!
Lainey the lion tamer...


Sweet Baby

My two loves... Lainey, and my big purse! Jk Joshy! I love you!
This was taken at my surprise bday bbq- Not a fan of my haircut, but oh well, hair grows...
Joshy brought me a dozen roses, and a card that plays 'I'm so Excited' because most of the time, he is ;). He also got me a way cute white trench coat and an external hard drive to accommodate my digital scrapbooking endeavors...
This is what I found on my mirror the morning of my bday- So cute, huh! (And yes, our bathroom is STILL under construction!!!) We have really enjoyed being outside in the nice weather. Lainey loves going on walks and seeing all the pretty blossoms. She can even do the hand actions for 'Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree'!

Check out those eyes!

This is her fake cry face... she does it quite often :) Lately, when she falls down, she takes the opportunity to enjoy it and just relax...

I've really enjoyed taking pictures of Lainey... I worked at Storybook Portraits my last 'single' semester in Cedar and learned a few things. I just wish I had a better camera, a tripod, some studio lights... an assistant... maybe someday. Photoshop makes up for what I don't have, I guess! When you photograph kids, you take like 100 pictures, and usually only 5-10 work out, but usually they are pretty cute. I found myself getting a little frustrated 20 minutes into our little picture taking session, but as I was downloading the pictures, these were my favorites! Lainey gets this really cheesy smile on her face whenever I pull out the camera and then she just ignores it. She did really well sitting on the chair, until she figured out how to get down :)




Here are some pictures I snapped while Josh had Lainey outside in our back yard (I can call it ours if we are living with the inlaws, right?)

her 'scrunchie' face

Lainey points at everything! Birds, planes, cars, you name it!

Mom

I just had a little time to spare, and I thought I'd share some of the feelings I've had lately. I was sick the first part of the week, and tried to avoid spreading it to Lainey, but she caught it anyway. I don't think that there is anything that brings the love for a child to the foreground in the heart like sickness or hurt does. I would do anything to make Lainey feel better and be happy again. The last few nights as I have rocked her to sleep, the song that was playing on her 'bedtime cd' has been 'You are My Sunshine' and as I looked down at her sweet angel face, my heart overflowed with love for this precious gift of motherhood. There is nothing I could do in this life that would fulfill me as much as being a mother does. It makes me appreciate even more how much my mom means to me, and it is amazing to actually know how much she loves her children. My only hope is that my children will look back with as much love and adoration on me as I do to my own mom and mother-in-law.

Get Scrappin'

I'm contributing to a digital scrapbooking blog: http://getscrappin.blogspot.com/ It's pretty fun stuff! (but it is addicting!) Check it out!

Long time, no post...

I can't believe it has been a month since I posted last... Time goes by so fast! I have a lot of pictures to post, and a lot to write about, so read on, if you have the time!

Lainey turned 10 months on the 1st of April, and surprised us by walking about two weeks before that. Now she is 'motating' all over the place and keeping me very busy trying to entertain (and contain) her newfound mobility. Her personality is becoming more and more apparent each day. She is a show off, for sure! She loves to show anyone watching her new tricks, sounds, toys, whatever. Her hair is long enough in the back to do little pigtails... so cute!She is starting to make the same sounds for the same things, e.g. 'mo' for more, 'ba ba' for her bottle or anything she wants to drink, she is even saying 'ze-zuz' when we walk by a picture of Jesus or she sees her Jesus book, she says 'ba' for book, and mama and dada of course... She has been into 'giving loves' lately, which just melts our hearts! She will come over to me (walk or crawl) and put her head against me and say "awwwww" because we say that when we give her 'loves'. She also 'gives loves' to her monkey, big bunny, baby, and pink kitty. She will give kisses to her picture of Jesus (so cute!) pictures of mom or dad, or grandma and grandpa. The other night during family prayer, she even gave Josh kisses on the face. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen! (I know my eyes weren't supposed to be open, but I'm glad they were!) She has grown so much in the last month, I can't believe it!

As far as Josh and I, things are going well. Josh is enjoying his new position, but is as busy as ever. I have been trying to decide if I want to teach in the fall and I have two interviews this week for 3rd and 4th grade positions. Oh, and the Maroon 5 concert has been cancelled, so yeah, I was a little disappointed, but I'm over it. I did finally get a calling in this ward (I guess I hadn't gone to Tropic enough...) but I am the Activity Days director for the senior primary girls. I'm excited- it should be a fun calling. There are only 7 girls in the senior primary, 3 of whom will be moving into Young Women's in the fall. I did want to say a few things about conference... wasn't it awesome? As it was beginning on Saturday morning, I was sad to think President Hinkley wasn't going to be there, but as the 'solumn assembly' took place, I was deeply moved by the chance I had to stand and sustain Pres. Monson as the new prophet and head of this church. The rest of the conference was amazing! Sunday sessions especially... well, the parts I heard between chasing Lainey around and changing diapers (I swear she had more than usual today...) I feel uplifted and edified after being reminded of the doctrine of this true and living church.

Okay, so now I am going to paraphrase Easter, and everything else that happened in the past month. For Easter, we went south and spent it in and around Kanab with my dad's family. We had fun playing in the sand and riding 4 wheelers. We had a picnic with the traditional deviled eggs, shrimp salad, and hot dogs... yum... Lainey was fascinated by the sand and kept trying to eat it! She wouldn't ride the 4 wheeler this time though, it was a little scary to her, and I'm not sure why... she loved it when we were down for Dad's bday...

Lainey was a little spoiled for Easter... but oh well! I filled her eggs with fruity cheerios and her 'stars' which she quite enjoyed. It was funny to watch her try to crawl and stand up in her long dress!

My inlaws got a black lab puppy about a month ago and are trying to house-train it. It has been quite the ordeal, but he's a cute dog and as long as I keep Lainey off the floor when he's around, then everything is fine! They want to have him trained as a seeing eye dog for my sister-in-law's little boy who is going blind. It will be hard to give him up!

Here are some miscellanious pictures that I thought were cute!